Leeds City Museum
Cookridge Street,
LS2 8BH Leeds
14 October at 11:00–16:00
Free entry.
Take a dark trip into the bones of Leeds Gothica on the 14th of October.
Explore gothic literature, fashion and music.
Special guest –Rosie Garland, reading from her work!
With stalls and installations from jumbo records, ultimate skin tattoos, Leeds libraries, the West Yorkshire Playhouse Costume Department, ‘dead things’ by Kate, Sohos, Nyx and the Sophie Lancaster foundation to name but a few!
The Chemic Tavern
9 Johnston Street,
LS6 2NG Leeds
19:45–22:30
Poetry wi' Chips!
June's WORD CLUB features co-headlining slots from the fabulous literary polymath, Rosie Garland, and Hull dynamos, Jim Higo and Mickey Higgins.
We will have the usual open-micers and the event will be co-hosted by Mark Connors and Gill Lambert. We don't like to turn any open micer down so come and show us what you've got and we'll do our best to fit you in. We will be starting at the slightly earlier time of 7.45 pm so best get there early if you want a seat!
Goth City Festival: Black Planet - Leeds Goth in Perspective
On the discussion panel will be: Rosie Garland (writer, performer and March Violets singer), John Keenan (Leeds alternative music promoter), Karl Spracklen (Professor of Leisure Studies, Leeds Beckett University) and Tim Synystyr (journalist and A Blogging Goth), chair: Joel Heyes (Goth City Promotions)
Venue: HEART Centre,
Bennett Road,
Headingley, Leeds.
7.30-9.30pm
Tickets for this event are now on sale! £4 each, all proceeds to PAFRAS
Tickets can be purchased by PayPal. Once purchased all you need to do is bring your PayPal receipt to the event.
The first Goth City Festival will take place in Leeds in November 2016 – and I'm delighted to be involved!
Taking place between Friday 11th and Saturday 26th November, Goth City Festival will celebrate the gothic and post-punk heritage of the city and of Yorkshire generally. Events will include, gigs, clubs, discussions, spoken word, acoustic and social events at more than six venues and feature more than 20 different bands and performers.
All proceeds from Goth City Promotions events during this period will be donated to PAFRAS (Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers), a local charity for destitute refugees and asylum seekers.
http://gothcity.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/