Richard O'Brien
@notrockyhorror.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at Northumbria University and lapsed early modernist. Working on poetry, novels, & a music memoir/podcast about the Mountain Goats: thirtyyearslater.substack.com. I make music as Groundbird, groundbird.bandcamp.com.
Joe and the Juice is short for Joseph and the Juiceph
I’m in London with my fellow Bus Poet Adam Dixon running a table at the South Bank Poetry Zine Fair to hawk our poetry and local history collage zines - come say hi! www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/poe...
Poetry International Festival Zine Fair | Southbank Centre
southbankcentre.co.uk
[Tenderly, closing your eyes] You’ve read your last free article
Inordinately excited about this year's forthcoming John Clare Society Journal, featuring cover art by Tracey Bush, & new writing from @victoriaxiaoxiaoma.bsky.social, Richard O'Brien - @notrockyhorror.bsky.social - Martin Kratz, Cassie Falke, Jens Peters, & an index of publications, & reviews.
Opening a roastery opposite the Family Court called Grounds For Divorce
I’m pleased to announce my next poetry pamphlet, coming out in February 2027 from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social. COTERIE emerges from a challenge I set myself in April last year, to write a poem almost every day of the month in response to ‘commissions’ from my friends. People gave me requests [1/3]
Fired from the socialist bookshop for questioning why we keep buying expensive first editions of conservative novelists from the 1930s. ‘Funny,’ I yell as they boot me through the stockroom, ‘how there’s always money for Waaaauuuugh—‘
fucked me up to find out the doobie brothers? they actually dontbe brothers at all
seeing myself discussed or even namechecked in academic publications is for me what appearing on TV is for normal people ❤️
Richard O'Brien@notrockyhorror.bsky.social · 3mo agoA few ‘flowers that grow up from the earth’ to celebrate some exciting post today: the first time my writing about @themountaingoats.bsky.social has appeared in an academic publication! This chapter looks at John Darnielle’s use of Edmund Spenser in ‘Minnesota’ and his varied approaches to the past.
A few ‘flowers that grow up from the earth’ to celebrate some exciting post today: the first time my writing about @themountaingoats.bsky.social has appeared in an academic publication! This chapter looks at John Darnielle’s use of Edmund Spenser in ‘Minnesota’ and his varied approaches to the past.
I have such a soft spot for the Vittoria Restaurant. I'm glad that 'A Cliff, A Centre' is still there for everyone to read because I think it does a wonderful job of capturing the place the cemeteries have in the lives of the JQ. For those curious: cemeteries.jewelleryquarter.net/a-cliff-a-ce...
A Cliff, A Centre - Jewellery Quarter Cemeteries Project
Perhaps, past-struck, a horse-drawn hearsehas pulled you up the hill to here;or, in some census, scanner-smeared,his name, her job, fuzzy and terse; or nothing as old or grand as grief.A sandwich to b...
cemeteries.jewelleryquarter.net
Lovely to have the opportunity to reflect on my time as Birmingham Poet Laureate (2018-20) for a great new arts site in the city, Concrete, and republish some occasional poems. (Thanks to @jonathandavidson.bsky.social et al for the job in the first place!) concretebrum.wordpress.com/2026/06/10/i...
I Spent Two Years as the Birmingham Poet Laureate – The Rest of my Sentence I Served on Parole
Richard O’Brien reflects on his time as Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, complete with selected poems.
concretebrum.wordpress.com
Check out our symposium STAVE/OFF! Geared towards establishing a network of scholars in the North East, we welcome contributions from all kinds of music thinkers, makers, and facilitators who are interesting in mulling over non-traditional modalities of musical training in popular musics.
![Submission
Please send an overview of what you would like to talk about (this could take the form of a standard 300-word abstract [.docx/.pdf] or a more informal approach via email) along with a short biography of about 100 words. If you are including a performance, please make this clear. We will put together a range of panels and informal roundtable discussions based on the nature of the submissions we receive. Please note that in aiming to create a relaxed and productive environment of knowledge exchange, spaces will be very limited. Participants will be selected both on the strength of their submission and with an aim of assembling a varied programme.
A limited number of travel bursaries are available — please let us know in your application if you would like to be considered for one of these, along with where you will be travelling from. Priority will be given to postgraduate students, early-career scholars and contributors without institutional funding. There will be no registration fee. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Submit your proposals together to Richard (r.obrien@northumbria.ac.uk) and Anika (anika.babel@northumbria.ac.uk) with the subject heading ‘STAVE/OFF’ by 19 June 2026. Results: 26 June 2026.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wbfymn5ze5xolapr62qvdq6a/bafkreifidygbswyj6truj4l474h5r2jwww6vf76g5li7miqojst7tcgghi)
They call it the cold open because it’s a great time to crack open a cold one
[Wes Streeting’s parents after email was invented]: This Streeting could have been an email
A quick reminder to followers in the North East - the last in the current series of Songwriters in Conversation events, on theme of History, takes place this Sunday in North Shields! Pre-booking tickets really helps, and you'll get to see some cool harp looping: www.eventbrite.com/e/songwriter...
Songwriters in Conversation #6 (Aurora Engine, Detroit Tourist Board)
Performances by Aurora Engine and Detroit Tourist Board, followed by a Q&A with the songwriters discussing history, nostalgia and memory.
eventbrite.com
At a showcase this Wednesday, Northumbria undergrad and MA Creative Writing students will have excerpts from their prose, poetry and scripts performed by professional actors at Live Theatre. It should be a lovely event and a great opportunity for our writers! www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/northumbr...
Celebrate the next generation of creative talent at Northumbria graduate showcase
Northumbria University’s annual REVEAL degree shows spotlight the exceptional work of graduating students across the arts, design, fashion, architecture and...
mynewsdesk.com
What are the unique things music can do to explore and evoke the past? Is writing a song set in 1985 any different from writing one set in the 19th century? Join Aurora Engine, Detroit Tourist Board and me to discuss songwriting and history on May 17th: www.eventbrite.com/e/songwriter...
Songwriters in Conversation #6 (Aurora Engine, Detroit Tourist Board)
Performances by Aurora Engine and Detroit Tourist Board, followed by a Q&A with the songwriters discussing history, nostalgia and memory.
eventbrite.com
[Gorbachev’s therapist]: Mr Gorbachev, tear down these walls!
Can’t even go to wizard school on your home island of the Earthsea archipelago anymore. Because of Roke
Rejected by the New Generation Thinkers scheme for the final year I was eligible, so pleased to announce that I’m now actually the mid-career establishment and my Thinking is already hegemonic so it’s fine actually :)
![Church dismantles a huge pipe organ and finds an older history [screenshot of BBC article]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wbfymn5ze5xolapr62qvdq6a/bafkreidera3374toffozlik36u7cfx6kltlbo4ggbntsyf72ss47mlbupy)
Fun dinner party fact for the vegetarians in your life: Quorn is often assumed to be an English company but it was actually founded in Ireland in 1985, by Mike O’Protein
today's info that i came across & have no use for beyond a briefly satisfying spiritual ripple is that winona ryder's ringtone was, for a time, leonard cohen's "i'm your man"