Rosie Garland has a passion for language nurtured by public libraries, & Val McDermid has named her one of the most compelling LGBT+ writers in the UK today. An award-winning poet, novelist and short story writer, she is frontwoman for post-punk band The March Violets. Poetry collection What Girls do the Dark (Nine Arches Press) was shortlisted for the Polari Prize & latest collection This Is How I Fight was Observer Poetry Book of the Month. Her poetry and fiction – described by The Times as “a delight…with shades of Angela Carter” – looks beneath the skin to the multitudes inside: galaxies, creatures, wicked queens & fire – all itching & roaring to be seen.

Photo by Rachel Saunders

Rowena Knight’s poetry is influenced by her queerness, feminism, and upbringing in New Zealand. Her poems have appeared in Butcher’s Dog, Magma, The Rialto, and The Emma Press Anthology of Love, among others. She was shortlisted for the 2018 Bridport Prize and commended in the 2019 Winchester Poetry Prize, and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and spoken word events across Bristol and London. Her pamphlet All the Footprints I Left Were Red is published by Valley Press. You can find her on Instagram @purple_fantail.