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In 1984, Girlo Wolf is born into a world of pickets and poverty. She dreams of a world beyond the defunct slagheaps of post-industrial Wales and, nurturing dreams of becoming a poet, seeks social mobility through education. Struggling with life-long mental health challenges and the repercussions of childhood trauma, she falls into a dark underworld of sex, drugs and alcohol. Channelling her lived experiences, and those of her working-class community, she soon discovers that her words are a conduit to recovery and survivourhood.
This emancipatory novel is a must-read. It offers a powerful, darkly comedic and inspiring polyphonic tribute to the intergenerational struggles of working-class women and men, exploring hidden narratives and shedding light on the harsh realities of economic poverty and present-day oppression.
Not just a coming-of-age story, this is an artist's novel featuring concrete poetry punctuating the narrative. Will appeal to readers of Helen Walsh, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Niall Griffiths, Rachel Trezise, lloyd Robson and Crystal Jeans.
Gemma has published extensively in esteemed anthologies, journals and online platforms, most prolifically with The Red Poets, Proletarian Poetry and Culture Matters. Her writing is both lyrical and incisive, combining a poet's sensitivity with an activist's urgency.
In 2010, she was a finalist for the John Tripp Award for Spoken Word, and has since been published by Bloodaxe Books ‘Hallelujah for 50ft Women’ (2015), ‘When the Young Dodo’s Meet the Young Dragon’s’ (2015) and The London Magazine (2020). Inside the Treacle Well is her first short story collection published by Hafan Books (2009). The Crazy Truth is her debut novel, published by Seren Books (2024)
Poet
Award-winning YA Author
Author, Painter & Poet
Award-winning Film Maker & Director
"Gemma Howell is a brilliant young woman writer in the best traditions of Wales. Inspiring to me, not just because I share the same Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen background of Gemma, but because she is a writer who needs to be read. Her book goes where the best writing goes – into the heart of the human condition. She shares with Albert Camus and J. M. Coetzee a passion for humanity’s light and dark. I’m sure she can write a classic."
Published by Hafan Books in 2009.