Julie-Ann Rowell is a Devon-based poet, teacher and editor,. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, where she was also editorial assistant and assistant editor at the academic journal Irish Studies Review for three years. Her work has been published widely in magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Ireland Review and Cyphers.  She has been teaching poetry and mentoring for fifteen years.

Turas Press has published two of Julie-Ann’s collections:

  • Exposure (2019) This collection is a finely-wrought, dramatic collection of poems woven from the landscape and folklore of the Orkney Islands, where Julie-ann used to live and still frequently visits. 
  • Inside Out (2022) The collection documents the poet’s  journey from diagnosis of a chronic health condition (FND) through hospitalisation, discharge and eventual recovery. Inside Out was shortlisted for the Poetry Book Awards, 2023.

Her previous publications are:

  • Convergence (2003, The Brodie Press)
  • Letters North (2008, The Brodie Press)
  • Voices in the Garden (2018, Lapwing, Belfast)
  • Hame (2024, Nine Pens Press)

Her poems are included in a new anthology: Pale Fire, New Writing on the Moon, (2019, Frogmore Press.)She has poems in several anthologies, including Furies (For Books’ Sake), edited by Eve Lacey, which was runner-up in the Saboteur Awards 2015

Her work has won and been shortlisted for many awards:

  • Convergence, (won a Poetry Book Society Award
  • Letters North was nominated for the Michael Murphy Poetry Prize for Best First Collection in Britain and Ireland in 2011

Many of Julie-ann’s individual poems have gained recognition, including:

  • Winner of the Frogmore poetry competition 2005
  • Runner-up Bridport Poetry Competition 2006
  • Short-listed prize-winner for Strokestown International Poetry competition, 2018;
  • Commended in the BT Section of the National Poetry Competition 2000, and the Bridport Prize,
  • Shortlisted in the Open Poetry International Sonnet Competition,
  • Placed in the Wells Festival Poetry Competition, Writer’s Inc, Ware Poets and Mslexia Poetry Competitions (twice)
  • Highly Commended in the Forward Prize for Poetry 2020/2021

Reviews and Responses

Exposure

 

Inside Out

The poems in this collection provide a record of an individual grappling with the physical, emotional and social challenges of living with chronic illness. FND – Functional Neurological Disorder – is a disorder in the functioning of the nervous system, whose symptoms include a variety of physical, sensory and cognitive symptoms such as seizures, dizziness, chronic pain, speech impairment, paralysis. The poet documents her journey from diagnosis, through hospitalisation, discharge and eventual recovery. 

“These poems are a defiant show of resilience against drowning. There are shared stories, none of them easy. There is light, and Rowell finds it in unexpected places. These poems had to be this strong, they are her lifeboat.”                   Martin Figura

“There is no special pleading here and no calling out for sympathy. The poet speaks in her own name but also speaks compellingly on behalf of other sufferers who would not have her stylistic and dextrous way with words. Incredibly, her riveting epic sweep through her troubles is leavened with humour.”            Eamonn Lynskey

Rebecca Gethin Reviews Voices in the Garden (Lapwing, 2018)

To learn more about Julie-ann and her work, visit her website.