August Special

We are honoured to have this poet living in our street!
Biographical note:  Antony Rowland was born in Bradford in 1970. Since studying at Hull and Leeds he has taught literature and creative writing at The University of Salford. He has published poems in various journals and magazines, including Critical Quarterly, Stand and P.N. Review. A selection of his work appeared in New Poetries III (Carcanet, 2002). He received an Eric Gregory Award in 2000, and a Learning Northwest Award in 2001.


Short description/annotation:  This collection pushes the monologue form further than it’s ever been before, featuring the history of the beard recounted to a headless cavalier, and an academic obsessed with the power of nineteenth-century barnets. The collection also contains a gastronomic edge, with a eulogy to the pie, a diatribe against cucumbers, and an elegy for Pontefract’s pomfret cakes.

July Read

Profile

Joe Pemberton was born in Moss Side, Manchester in 1960. His parents emigrated from the West Indies to England in the late fifties, before moving to Ashton-under-Lyne in 1970. He has worked as an electrical engineer and a college lecturer. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester Creative Writing Course. He has had two novels published, Forever and Ever Amen and A Long Time Dead and has just completed a third novel entitled I Wander As I Wander and is seeking a publisher. He has written stage adaptations for both novels and has had Forever and Ever Amen workshopped at the Library Theatre, Manchester. He was also one of the judges for the 2004 Crocus Novel Competition. He has given many readings, e.g. Waterstones; several North-West libraries including Manchester Central library, Oldham, Powerhouse, Hulme, etc., as well as interviews on national and local radio.