Respect This Lonely Grave booklet

Just out in all Lancashire libraries!

Respect This Lonely Grave

The booklet!    

The Reading Ramble - Rob Bullock's Lancashire Story

The Reading Ramble

Rob Bullock's Lancashire Story

'Respect This Lonely Grave Interview with Rob Bullock

Excellent Event at the Dales Countryside Museum!

 

Stories and legacies of the black residents of the Yorkshire Dales and the Lancashire Coast in the 18th century.

Thank you to Martin Garside and the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum for their hospitality for making the event so memorable. The archive at the museum was where this project began!  

 

Writer in Residence Nanjing City of Literature 2022

Rivers Flow Day and Night 

Part 2 – Flumen Somnambulist (Sleepwalking river)

Day and night, rivers flow, never ceasing, night time, sleep, human dreams, somnambulists meander, from dusk to dawn, nocturnal eyes alert and alive, human eyes drawn and drooping, minds dreaming of perfect futures and fateful pasts, loves lost, hopes and dreams, somnambulists meander, always moving, never looking back, light fades, houses darken, one by one, lights extinguished, sandman beckons, somnambulists meander, dark velvet envelops, blankets, coats, wraps, caresses, strangles agoraphobic fears, somnambulists meander, the church clocks chime the midnight hour, the dead lie slumbering beneath the gothic tower, somnambulists meander, the wee small hours arrive, silence ensues, not a pin drop to stir, grave yard shift, earning a crust, migrant workers, far from home, yawn, watch the clock, count the seconds, minutes, hours, movement, catch his eye, outside, party people, buzzing, high, ears deafened, raucous din, shared last dances, heading for beds, own or strangers, somnambulists meander, work begins, cleaning up, night time economy, taxi takes his final fare, Uber rushing here and there, street cleaners, shifts in full flow, towns and cities, garbage, trash, ever overflow, somnambulists meander, dawn first light, heading for daytime slumber, sunlight faintly stirs, beckoning life renewed, the nightshift ends, the day begins, slumberous multitudes awaken, somnambulists meander. Day and night, rivers flow, never ceasing.

 RESPECT THIS LONELY GRAVE 

by Rob Bullock

Am I dead. I am only resting facing the departing ruby red sun. 

Facing the place where endless bay sand oftimes meets grey unwelcoming squall.

Watching the seals bask in the sunshine, listening to the gulls, squeal, shriek and call.

Watching magpies as they steal and they shock.

Watching the seals basking on the rock.

Am I dead. I am only resting facing the departing ruby red sun.

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/libraries/lancashire-stories/  

Introducing Lancashire Stories: a new collection of short stories and poems for the people of Lancashire. Featuring stories from 17 brilliant professional authors, available for free for residents of Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool. 

ROB BULLOCK SELECTED FOR ONE OF THE SIX NANJING WRITER RESIDENCIES

 

Nanjing City of Literature have announced their six Writers in Residence for the next 12 months. The submission was available for writers, poets and translators from all UNESCO Cities of Literature and one of the spots was selected for Rob Bullock, for Manchester City of Literature.

With 14 years writing experience, Rob has spent eight years developing and running creative writing workshops for schools, libraries and communities groups in Manchester, working with both children and adults.

Rob has recently completed a PhD at Huddersfield University under the supervision of award winning Salford born writer Michael Stewart. His PhD focused on telling the stories and legacies of black residents throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire in the 1700s and included writing the novel Dark Tide.

While a lot of Rob’s writing is for children or poetry, Dark Tide is an adult novel that tells the story of British slavery and the hundreds of black people who laid roots in the North West’s bleak uplands. It includes a chapter specifically discussing Manchester’s history of slavery. The story is told by a Bajan demon called the Heartman, talking to Jack Moss, a black man awaiting execution in a Lancaster jail. The novel developed from research into the real life discovery of the mummified hand of a black woman on an elderly lady’s mantlepiece in Rob’s hometown of Settle. Rob was able to discover a lot about the life of this lady and the story flowed from there.

FEATURED ALUMNI

FEATURED ALUMNI AT LEEDS TRINITY UNIVERSITY 

https://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/alumni/meet-our-alumni/robert-bullock.php