Things I Did While I Was Dead - Flapjack Press, 2010
Click to purchase book at Flapjack Press
Reviews:
‘Peerless and passionate award-winning poetry’
Powerfully articulating themes as diverse as relationships, childhood, serial-killers and gender, this passionate and thought-provoking collection showcases Rosie's affecting and award-winning poetry.
"Candid, tender and surprising, these are poems about love and longing, myth and mirrors, the self and the other self. Things I Did While I Was Dead packs a powerful punch" - Jackie Kay MBE, poet & novelist
"One of the country's finest performance poets" - Apples and Snakes
"She is the mistress of language, whether it's making you laugh or informing your emotions. Here is a courageous artist with guile and expertise in equal measure" - Gerry Potter, poet
Rosie's book is available from the Flapjack Press shop [via PayPal or cheque payable to Flapjack Press].
Poem example -
Angry Goddess Seeks Similar
Mary! Call the babysitter and let me
take you dancing. You used to be such a mover
before all that God wore you down to milquetoast plastic.
Blow your nose, remind your hips how to shimmy.
Show them how it’s done. Stick out your bloody tongue:
I’ll lend you my spare necklace of severed hero’s heads,
a set of brand-new steak-knives.
Aren’t you sick of their prayers? Their excuses?
Start by smashing what’s left of the wedding china;
ink your foot into the earth. Twist rage
into a rope trick and climb through your halo
up to where the dark is giddy. I’m laughing
sequins to light up the dancefloor. Write
your own horoscope. Make this your auspicious day.
Burnage Library,
Burnage Lane,
Manchester M19 1EW
Monday 8th April, 2019
7pm start – 9.30pm
Free event
Back by popular demand! Following the success of our event in 2018, we are delighted to welcome Manchester writer Rosie Garland back to our special open-mic reading event at Burnage Library! Come and hear Rosie read from her sparkling works, and take part yourself in the open mic.
Burnage Library is located in the Activity Hub on the corner of Burnage Lane and Shawbrook Road.
Chorlton Library, Manchester Road, Manchester M21 9PN
featuring Rosie Garland
Thursday 7.00pm
Free event
The wonderful Flapjack Press are bringing their famous open mic night to Chorlton Book Festival.
Hosted by Tony Curry and featuring the very special guest poet Rosie Garland!
To reserve your open mic slot please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Chorlton Book Festival returns for its 12th year with more events and authors than ever before. All Events are free and at Chorlton Library unless stated. For those events where booking is required, please call Chorlton Library on 0161 227 3700.
http://www.chorltonbookfestival.co.uk/
I’m honoured – my essay ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ is included in this wonderful collection! (Nine Arches Press, ed Ian Humphreys)
‘What motivates poets in the 21st century? How do they find their voice? What themes and subject matters inspire them? How do they cope with set-backs and deal with success? What keeps them writing?
In Why I Write Poetry twenty-five contemporary poets reflect with insight, wit and wisdom on the writing life, each offering their distinctive take on what inspires and spurs them on to write poetry. Also - individual writing prompts to help you create your own new poetry.’
https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/why-i-write-poetry.html
A wonderful way to end a difficult year – ‘What Girls Do in the Dark’ selected by Pippa Hennessy as a Poetry Society Best Book of the Year!
https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poetry-news-best-books-of-the-year/
“Finally, Rosie Garland’s What Girls Do in the Dark (Nine Arches) – Garland is a true gothic polymath. This is reflected in her poetry, which roams through astrophysics, war zones, quantum theory, human biology, history, relationships and non-relationships, and more. The poems in What Girls Do in the Dark take this variety to extremes, yet somehow manage to bring concrete details and abstract ideas from all these areas together into a coherent, explosive, dazzling, gorgeous whole.”
– Pippa Hennessy is a bookseller at Five Leaves Bookshop, Nottingham.
Thank you Henry Normal for selecting What Girls Do in the Dark for Northern Soul’s Best Reads of 2021!
Books: Northern Soul’s Best Reads of 2021
Henry Normal, poet and writer
What Girls do in the Dark (Nine Arches Press) by Rosie Garland is my favourite poetry book of the year. Garland was a singer in the 1980s post-punk/goth band The March Violets. More recently, she’s established herself as a poet and novelist with several titles. I had the honour to read with her in Birmingham a while back, so when her new collection was released I was already interested. From the first poem I was captivated. She has a way of keeping one foot tentatively in the world we know with the other searching for a foothold in an unseen or imaginary world. I was inspired and transported by these poems in a way I’ve not experienced since first getting excited by the possibilities of poetry in my teens. I suspect it would not be good form to choose one of my poetry books for this feature but even if it was, I would choose Garland’s What Girls do in the Dark.
https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/books-northern-souls-best-reads-of-2021/
Thank you Vive le Rock magazine, for the great feature on The March Violets!
https://vivelerock.net/product/vive-le-rock-84-motorhead-girlschool-preorder/
Well, look at what happened on Record Store Day UK on July 17th 2021!
The March Violets ‘Big Soul Kiss’ - all the 1980s BBC Sessions in one place.
And PURPLE vinyl too #RSD21 #rsddrops
UPDATE – the entire pressing sold out in 24 hours. Jungle Records are releasing a CD version in 2022… plus more releases planned. Watch this space!
https://www.facebook.com/JungleRecords/