Things I Did While I Was Dead

by Rosie Garland

"Give me heat. I want to singe my fingers. I want them sticky, messy down and dirty, I want life and all it costs..." Powerfully articulating diverse themes including childhood, relationships, gender and serial-killers, Rosie's first collection since beating throat cancer showcases her thought-provoking and passionate award-winning poetry.

Genres: Poetry

47 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Born in London to a runaway teenager, Rosie has always been a cuckoo in the nest. She's an eclectic writer and performer, ranging from singing in post-punk gothic band The March Violets, through touring with the Subversive Stitch exhibition in the 90s to her alter-ego Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen, cabaret chanteuse and mistress of ceremonies.

She has published five solo collections of poetry and her award-winning short stories, poems and essays have been widely anthologized. She is winner of the DaDa Award for Performance Artist of the Year and a Poetry Award from the People's Café, New York. Her most recent poetry collection, 'Everything Must Go' (Holland Park Press 2012) draws on her experience of throat cancer.

She won the Mslexia Novel competition in 2012 and her debut novel 'The Palace of Curiosities' was published in March 2013 by HarperCollins. Her second novel, 'Vixen', (Borough Press 2014) is now available in all formats.

Reviews

[Shambhobi Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosie Garland's poems are sharp, shocking, deep and thought-provoking at the same time. She explores a variety of themes in this collection, including gender, sexuality and myths. I love how she uses popular figures from myths and folktales to question gender identities and stereotyping, leading into restraint and oppression -- even of the goddesses.

[minna · Rating 4 out of 5]

oof the imagery

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosie is genius...through and through.