Behind the scenes video tours
9-13 June 2021 and available ONLINE - click the link below
All ages welcome, Free
Join Manchester writer Rosie Garland as she guides you through the libraries of Manchester, going behind the scenes with intimate tours and lots of fun along the way.
Or perhaps you’d rather get outside and enjoy the summer sunshine by taking our self-guided walking tours? Whether you’re a Manchester libraries aficionado or you’ve never ventured inside any of them before, you will learn something fascinating!
We’ve got extra special tours with novelist and poet Rosie Garland available to view right here. Featuring our heritage libraries: Central Library, Chetham’s Library, John Rylands Library and Research Institute, The Portico Library plus the brand new Manchester Poetry Library (part of Manchester Metropolitan University) which we know you’re keen to see before it opens to the public later this year!
https://www.manchestercityofliterature.com/event/tours-and-trails-with-rosie-garland/
Thursday 12th May
Time: 7-10pm
Venue: The Baronial Hall,
Chetham's Library
Long Millgate,
Manchester, M3 1SB
Free entry
A group of us are organising a poetry event called Poet's Corner which is going to be held at Chetham's Library on May 12th as part of Manchester After Hours.
We are inviting a diverse mix of local poets to perform on stage within the beautiful surroundings of one of the oldest libraries in the UK and intend to inject a sense of energy and excitement in to a typically serene and quiet environment. Our event is aimed at new and existing audiences of poetry / spoken word and encourages people to appreciate the work of contemporary poets whilst making connections to and celebrating Manchester's literary past.
http://museumsatnight.org.uk/news/manchester-after-hours/
Get the full listings at: www.creativetourist.com/manchester-after-hours
Stay tuned at #mcrafterhours
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/