Tagged ‘literary hero’ by The Skinny, Rosie Garland is a UK-based novelist, poet and singer with post-punk band The March Violets. She performs twisted cabaret as The Time-Travelling Suffragette. With a passion for language nurtured by public libraries, she has received writing commissions from Bronte Parsonage Museum, The Tate Gallery and Women’s Words Manchester, amongst others. Apples and Snakes describe her as ‘one of the country’s finest performance poets’.

Her belief in the power of persistence stems from personal experience. Following twelve years at a reputable literary agency (who failed to place her novels), in 2011 she entered the inaugural Mslexia Novel Competition and won. This debut novel was published as The Palace of Curiosities (HarperCollins 2013). As she puts it, “someone out there loves your work: maybe they just haven’t seen it yet”.

http://www.rosiegarland.com/

https://twitter.com/rosieauthor

https://www.instagram.com/rosiegarlandwriter/

Fiction, Historical fiction, Poetry.

Fiction: Rosie Garland’s debut novel, ‘The Palace of Curiosities’ (HarperCollins 2013), explores what it’s like to be different on the fringes of Victorian society. Her second novel, ‘Vixen’ (Borough Press 2014), tells of love and devotion against the backdrop of superstition, pestilence and hardship of the 14th century. Third novel, ‘The Night Brother’ (Borough Press 2016), explores questions of identity, sexual equality and how well we really know ourselves.

Rosie’s short fiction and poetry have been published in anthologies (Emma Press, For Books’ Sake, Crocus, Cinnamon), journals (including New Welsh Reader, Bare Fiction, Mslexia, Butcher’s Dog, Under the Radar, Envoi, The North, The Rialto, Bangalore Review) & she’s received nominations for both the Pushcart and Forward Prize.

Recent solo collections, poetry: As in Judy (Flapjack 2016), Everything Must Go (Holland Park Press 2012), Things I Did While I Was Dead (Flapjack Press 2010)

Writing residencies and commissions include: Emmeline Pankhurst Statue Project, Bronte Parsonage, Women’s Writes Manchester, Tate Modern, Whitworth Art Gallery, BBC Radio 3 and John Rylands Library.

Visit Rosie’s website for a full list of publications.

An experienced workshop facilitator and writing mentor, Rosie has worked with a wide range of organisations incl: For Books’ Sake, Apples and Snakes, Writing West Midlands, Portico Library Young Person’s Reading Project, Survivors’ Poetry, as well as universities, libraries and museums.

Rosie is committed to sharing best practice, and has spoken about her work at conferences and on panels including: New Writers’ Conference, University of Surrey; Women in Performance, Lancaster University; Northern Lights Writers’ Conference; Challenge and Change, Sheffield Hallam University. She’s also written articles and papers for books and journals including Feral Feminisms and Occupational Therapy Without Borders.

Selected recent readings and festival appearances include:

Edinburgh International Book Festival, Manchester Literature Festival, Museums at Night, Bradford Literature Festival, Elizabeth Gaskell House, Birmingham Literature Festival, Louder Than Words Festival, Latitude, Bridlington Poetry Festival, Women of the World Southbank, DaDaFest, Ledbury Poetry Festival, The Arvon Foundation, Cheltenham Festival of Literature and Writing on the Wall, Liverpool.

Jane Bradley, Founder / Director of For Books’ Sake

jane@forbookssake.net

W/shop 16 years and up

Reading: any age

Press and publicity quotes:

“Rosie Garland writes in a tumble of poetry, desire and passion, as intriguing and delicious as the story she tells.” Stella Duffy

“A rich and ambitious tale with shades of Angela Carter… Garland’s prose is a delight: playful and exuberant.” The Times review of The Night Brother

‘The Palace of Curiosities is a jewel-box of a novel, with page after page, scene after scene, layer after layer of treats and surprises. Garland is a real literary talent: definitely an author to watch.’ Sarah Waters

‘Garland’s lush prose is always a pleasure.’ The Guardian

‘An alternately brutal and beautiful story about love and belonging in a vividly conveyed underworld, rich in carny phantasmagoria and lyrical romance.’ – The Metro review of ‘The Palace of Curiosities’.

‘Poetic, surprising and ultimately deeply moving, Vixen will have you hooked faster than it takes to drink a jug of ale and – unlike ale – it will stay with you long after you’ve reached the final page.’ Diva magazine

‘Rosie has an eye for the unusual detail. Candid, tender and surprising, these are poems about love and longing, myth and mirrors, the self and the other self… She packs a powerful punch.’ Jackie Kay on ‘Things I Did When I Was Dead’

“Rosie started our series of performance poetry workshops with a fantastic workshop where people explored ways to bring poetry to life for an audience. Everyone was buzzing with enthusiasm afterwards and dying to get on a stage.” Apples and Snakes

“Thanks so much, Rosie, for coming to speak to my class. What a wonderful vision of life you can offer them as a possibility!” Minnie Bruce Pratt, Lecturer, Syracuse University New York