What an adventure!
On Saturday December 1st, I sang the Pankhurst Anthem – specially written by Helen Pankhurst & Lucy Pankhurst - in Etihad Stadium in front of the Manchester City crowd at half time!
I can honestly say I've never sung in front of a crown of 50,000 people. What an experience.
All part of the run-up to the unveiling of Hazel Reeves wonderful statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square, Manchester on December 14th 2018.
7th June 2018
The Manchester Histories Festival launch was a great event. I was invited to read my commissioned piece 'Syrinx' next to the painting that inspired it (‘Syrinx’ by Arthur Hacker). And I was surrounded by the paintings targeted in the 1913 Suffragette direct action – a truly atmospheric experience.
Proud to share the evening with marvellous writers Kate Feld, Michelle Green & Maz Hedgehog.
Thank you Manchester Histories Festival!
Absolutely delighted – ‘The Night Brother’ has received good reviews in both The Times and The Sunday Times!
“The Night Brother by Rosie Garland is a rich and ambitious tale set in late Victorian Manchester… Garland’s prose is a delight: playful and exuberant. There are shades of Angela Carter in the mad world she creates... Full marks for style”.
Toni Senior 3rd June 2017
Full review here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/historical-fiction-w09l76frb
“Echoes of Angela Carter’s more fantastical fiction reverberate through this exuberant tale… Garland’s narrative is enjoyably energetic.”
Nick Rennison 18th June 2017
Full review here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/books-fiction-at-a-glance-all-the-good-things-by-clare-fisher-the-answers-by-catherine-lacey-the-night-brother-by-rosie-garland-splash-by-stephen-glover-the-idiot-by-elif-batuman-gkbbb3852
Photographed by Chris Keller Jackson at Cherie Bebe Burlesque.
https://www.crankphoto.co.uk/
In 2018, to celebrate the centenary of some women getting the vote in the UK, I devised the Time-Travelling Suffragettes. (Music performed by pianist Éilish McCracken).
“Armed with banners, a twinkle in their eye and a spanner or two for throwing into the works, The Time –Travelling Suffragettes have travelled to the present day to raise their voices in rousing song. They perform updated versions of nineteenth-century popular classics, making lyrical stops along the way in their musical journey towards the twenty-first century.
Inspired by the enduring influence of Music Hall and its power to subvert whilst being thoroughly entertaining, they cast a queerly suffragette eye upon songs such as The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery, I’m Shy Mary Ellen and Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy – and many more.
A timely reminder that suffragettes were far more than Nice Ladies In Hats, that the battles are never done, and how far we still have to go.
In Kitty’s words – ‘we are historical oddities from a time of struggle and dissent. We beg your forbearance! After all, 21st century audiences cannot possibly comprehend what it is like to live in a world which harbours inequality…”
YouTube links:
‘I’m Bi, Mary Ellen, I’m Bi’ at Club Big, Rock Art, HOMEMcr
https://youtu.be/rbt16fUeNAY
‘A Little Of What You Fancy’ at Club Big, Rock Art, HOMEMcr
https://youtu.be/fMZVYsdLDnA
#Vote100
What an adventure!
On Saturday December 1st I sang the Pankhurst Anthem – specially written by Helen Pankhurst & Lucy Pankhurst - in Etihad Stadium in front of the Manchester City crowd at half time! I can honestly say I've never sung in front of a crowd of 50,000 people.
All part of the run-up to the unveiling of Hazel Reeves wonderful statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square, Manchester on December 14th 2018.
Friday 8th June
5.30pm – free event
All Saint’s Park,
Grosvenor Square,
Oxford Road
Manchester, M15 6BH
Manchester Histories Festival returns across Greater Manchester for a long-weekender from 7-11 June 2018 with the theme protest, democracy, and freedom of speech. For Manchester Histories Festival 2018 and in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, we're presenting ‘Soapbox’ from 8th-10th June where we will create a Speakers Corner at All Saint’s Park off Oxford Road. The park will be transformed artists from the region, with a hustings, new visual identity, and food and drink stalls.
On Friday 8th June at c.5.30pm, Rosie Garland will be performing her spoken word piece about the Suffragette direct action in Manchester Art Gallery, which took place in April 1913.
3rd May 2018 - Very excited to announce paperback publication day of The Night Brother!
With a superb new cover.
Matt and Phreds
64 Tib Street,
M4 1LG Manchester
Sunday 10th December 2017
Doors at 7pm with the show starting at 8pm.
Enjoy an evening of live cabaret entertainment, music and burlesque debauchery featuring performances from some of the finest burlesque performers in the UK, held at Manchester's iconic Matt & Phreds.
Starring:
Cherie Bebe ~ Burlesque sensation and producer of Cherie Bebe's Burlesque Revue
Kitty & Lilibet The Time Travelling Suffragettes ~ Back by popular demand after their debut at Cherie Bebe's Burlesque Revue 2016.
and compere Jonathan Mayor ~ The cheeky and utterly fabulous diva of the night.
The event will be taking place on
Tickets are £8 (plus booking fee) if booked in advance via billetto / £10 on the door. Tickets are nonrefundable.
PLEASE CALL MATT & PHREDS TO RESERVE SEATING ONCE YOUR TICKETS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED AS THE TABLES ARE STRICTLY LIMITED ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS AND WE DO SELL OUT.
0161 273 5495
www.mattandphreds.com
Here is a sneak peek of what to expect at Cherie Bebe's Burlesque Revue
The Principal Manchester
Oxford Street
Manchester
M60 7HA
Sat 11 November 2017
18:15 – 19:30 GMT
Armed with banners, a twinkle in their eye and a spanner or two for throwing into the works, Kitty and Lilibet have travelled to the present day to raise their voices in rousing song. Inspired by the enduring influence of Music Hall and its power to subvert whilst being thoroughly entertaining, they cast a queerly suffragette eye upon songs such as The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery, I’m Shy Mary Ellen and Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy – and many more. The duo combines the musical talents of multi-instrumentalist Éilish McCracken (Rose McDowall, Sgt Buzfuz, Slate Islands, Ida Barr) and cabaret performer, novelist & lyricist Rosie Garland (The March Violets, Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen).
Tickets £8 – available here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/time-travelling-suffragettes-tickets-36245562453
http://louderthanwordsfest.com/
Cherie Bebe's Burlesque Revue
Matt and Phreds
64 Tib Street, M4 1LG Manchester
20:00 - 22:30
Come and celebrate our 3rd birthday in true burlesque style.
We have a very special lineup taking to the stage at Manchester's iconic Matt and Phreds.
Starring:
We have the absolutely fabulous Lady Wildflower join us on stage. Voted in the Top 20 UK Burlesque Performers of 2014 & 2015 by 21st Century Burlesque She certainly is one not to miss.
We are very excited to announce that Rosie Garland, performer, award winning writer, singer for The March of Violets and her vampire Queen / mistress of ceremonies Rosie Lugosi will be taking to the stage alongside the wonderful Eilish with a brand new act
Kitty and Lilibet, Polyhymnian Suffragettes.
The devine and cheeky Freida Nipples will be joining us on stage also all the way from London!
Hosted by our resident compare, the diva of the night, the hilarious and naughty Jonathan Mayor.
....And of course Cherie Bebe.
https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/cherie-bebes-burlesque-revue-november2016
Tickets are £8 if booked in advance via billetto / £10 on the door.
Doors at 7pm with the show starting at 8pm.
Matt and Phreds Happy Hour Offer ~ 'Buy two alcoholic drinks get a free pizza' will be available on the evening between 7pm-9pm!
PLEASE CALL MATT & PHREDS TO RESERVE SEATING ONCE YOUR TICKETS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED AS THE TABLES ARE STRICTLY LIMITED ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS AND WE DO SELL OUT.
0161 273 5495
www.mattandphreds.com
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/