Going in with flowers
by Avril Joy
£5.99 – £7.99
Paperback:
The poetry of prison
With authenticity, poignancy, and humour, Avril Joy gives voice to the lives of women prisoners contained behind walls and bars. Based on her experiences of twenty-five years working in HM Low Newton, County Durham, she explores in poetry and prose the daily going in through locked gates to meet darkness and pain as well as laughter and hope. The style is intense and breathtakingly original.
This collection is based on Avril Joy’s twenty-five years working as a teacher and senior manager in HM Low Newton, County Durham. Women prisoners trusted her with their life stories which she transformed into prose and poetry which sings with originality and compassion.
About Avril Joy
Before becoming a full-time writer, Avril Joy worked for twenty-five years in Low Newton women’s prison in County Durham. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Victoria Hislop's, The Story: Love, Loss & the Lives of Women. Award listings include the Bridport, the Manchester Prize for Fiction, the Fish Short Memoir, and the Raymond Carver Prize. Millie and Bird won the inaugural Costa Short Story Award, 2012. Sometimes a River Song won the 2017 People’s Book Prize for
outstanding achievement. Her poetry has appeared in print and online. Skomm won the York Literary Festival poetry competition, 2019. Avril lives with her partner near Bishop Auckland, in County Durham and posts regularly.
