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Gemma Cairney

@gemagain

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☆☆☆☆☆☆♤♤♤☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
chair @edartfest | author @canongatebooks @theimmortalsisterhoodlive | Talent rep: @encantatalentmgmt |
Lit rep: @bergstrom.studio

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Yo soulful Instagram foragers.
Did ya ever get round to signing up to my website? I spent some time in the woods with the shrooms, the words and the ferns. Creating this one-stop place on the web where all the links to all the exciting events, the book and everything is amomgst forces of nature.

Did you know that in Celtic folklore, ferns have hidden knowledge and are associated with protection, resilience and when you burn the fern's braken it summons rain...

Go have mooch gemmacairney.co.uk and do, sign up if you like anything you see.

Website designed by @fordvisuals 💚💚💚🩵💙
Link in bio by @gemagain

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a month ago

Here she is.
Out of the sea.
I think this might be the official cover reveal of a part of my heart, a life changing labour of love and realisation.

I'm uncomfortable with a hard sell, but it's a true joy to introduce you all the same, I believe in the investment of books. A last bastion of queit empowerment and reclaimation of intimate wonder.

I hope The Immortal Sisterhood finds it's way to being held by you.

The pre-order link is in my bio.

The illustration is Sea Creatures by the inimitable Sister: Pamela Colman Smith aka Pixie, c. 1907

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵💚💚💙💙💙🩵🩵🩵💚💚💚💙🩵🩵
#TheImmortalSisterhood
in love. by @gemagain

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8 months ago

I keep thinking about our SISTXRHOOD, the womxn of past, present and future. The things those of the past must have seen, how so much of it was silenced. How much of the abomination of slavery was organised and backed up by governements and people of power. How much of those years of new world empire and force and colonisation impacted the memories held in all of our DNA regardless of ethnicity. How it was always womxn and children at the hands of the most violent effects of it all.

I think about catharsis and healing and how the rage imbued in some of the art acts not only as a reminder but as a portal of timeless solidarity and strength. I think about how many womxn I know who are making ground breaking work and it's not platformed or resourced. I think about the mothers who are trying to find rest and heal and protect in the horrific onslaught of truth.

I think about the day I went to the place Nina Simone was born.

Archive Post from December 2024: Today I went out to the birthplace of Eunice Waymon. In the small hilly town of Tyron, North Carolina with streets that had names that match some of those in Scotland. I thought of the young black girl who in the mid to late 1930s showed a remarkable excellence for piano playing at the early age of just four years old. Set backs, travel, false starts and a name change followed, yet Nina Simone went on to be revered as one of the most prolific composers, jazz musicians, singer & songwriters of all time. Campaigning in so many of the fibres of her work relentlessly, for civil rights.

In the small quiet residential place, full of browns and greens where the gift of her life began I felt moved in the golden light of the sun and the drifting smell of pine. I stood in her first backyard and stared at the roots of the big tree that stood majestic, I willed it to talk to me so I could understand why I felt so teary in my awe and wonder for her perseverance.

Thank you so much for everything Nina, none of it was wasted on so many of us, least of all me and my new friend the thriving Magnolia tree.

#TheImmortalSisterhood taken in Nina Simone Birthplace by @gemagain

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3 years ago

☆archive post☆

It's been a lush flurry of commUNITY & chat. Please subscribe to links in my bio to keep an eye on updates of upcoming 'n exciting work.

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Hiya,
I'm back pon radio on Sunday. It's a show rooted in LOVE in all it's forms & @ocean_vuong will be joining us to talk about love / writing / music and other great deep things.

We'll also be joined in the swirl by Avant Garde performers @juliamasli 'n @paulinalenoir...

Come join us on @bbc6music from 10am on the 31st to see out August together.

❤️🏳️‍🌈🌎🌍🌀🔥🎇♥️🧡💕💌❤️🎼🪕📻 by @gemagain

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a year ago

The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE is this week in Manchester

The groundbreaking, ensemble-led collaboration blends sound, opera, movement, live cello, violin and poetry.

Swipe through photos from the group's recent performance in London...

Originally a literary work authored by award-winning broadcaster and writer Gemma Cairney, The Immortal Sisterhood (@theimmortalsisterhoodlive) comes to life in the Social for the very first time in Manchester...

The production is a collaboration between a stellar ensemble with different disciplines including Gemma Cairney (@gemagain), Simone Seales (@simone.cello), Mele Broomes (@melebroomes), A Jones (@alchemistjones), Fay Guiffo (@fayguiffo) Roxanne Tataei
(@roxannetataei) and Rebecca Palmer (@scarletshooter) as art director.

Witness an unforgettable journey of the remarkable women who we stand on the shoulders of, celebrated through an extraordinary fusion of art forms that transcend time and genre.

📍 The Social | Aviva Studios, home of Factory International

📅 8 October

🎟️ Aviva £10 Tickets available

🔗 Book now - click the link in Factory International's bio.

📸 Sèverine Howell-Meri (@shotbyseverine) by @gemagain

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2 days ago

Heavenly times of storytelling, transition, water, roots, buzz, vitality and movement.
Thank you @corinnebaileyrae for your work & congratulations on the beautiful new children's book - Put Your Records On. 🩵💜❤️🧡💙💛
+ @bbbookfestival + @theselinabrown for inviting me to chair this early October conversation in the most perfect brutalist utopian surrounding. The Barbican remains my favourite labyrinth of all time. by @gemagain

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3 days ago

Morning, morning, MORNING
Come see The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE next week in Manchester 💛🌻🌞🌞
@theimmortalsisterhoodlive by @gemagain

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5 days ago

A very generous delivery from @canongatebooks, I’ve glanced over all of them and my summaries are below.

Have you read or are you looking forward to any of these reads?

Swallows by Natsuo Kirino - Riki is offered a huge amount money to become a surrogate, but how could this ever just be a meaningless transaction. Vibrating with injustices. Sounds superb.

The Immortal Sisterhood by Gemma Cairney - a book about inspirational woman and how we can lift each other up rather than tearing each other down, 12 women who have influenced her life. @gemagain

The Power of No by Anna Holmes - getting rid of our agreeableness and learning to say no. An essential tool for self-preservation.

Shorelines by Alycia Pirmohamed - a journey across the authors life through location, connecting pieces of her memory and her place in the world. Sounds incredible. @alyciap_ by @gemagain

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14 days ago

Take a look behind the scenes in the rehearsal room for The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE 👀

With just over a couple of weeks to go until The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE (@theimmortalsisterhoodlive) reaches Manchester, we've been given a sneak peek at rehearsals...

Blending sound, opera, movement, live cello, violin and poetry, The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE presents an intuitive, futurist perspective on the themes of honour and grief.

The production is a collaboration between a stellar ensemble with different disciplines including Gemma Cairney (@gemagain), Simone Seales (@simone.cello), Mele Broomes (@melebroomes), A Jones (@alchemistjones), Fay Guiffo (@fayguiffo) and Roxanne Tataei (@roxannetataei).

With art direction by Rebecca Palmer (@scarletshooter).

The Immortal Sisterhood, originally a literary work authored by award-winning broadcaster and writer Gemma Cairney and originally premiering at The Lincoln Centre in New York, comes to life in the Social for the very first time in Manchester...

📍 The Social | Aviva Studios, home of Factory International
📅 8 October
🎟️ Aviva £10 Tickets available

🔗 Book now - click the link in Factory International's bio.

🎥 Rebecca Palmer and Alice Millar (@imalicemillar) by @gemagain

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15 days ago

First night of our London dates DONE !

WOW... that was a ride.
'It's like an album on stage' said one friend to me afterwards. Then today I was walking in a local park, close to where I'm staying and a young woman and her friend stopped me in my tracks 'OMG, I WAS JUST speaking about your play to my friend, the play from last night... It's really stayed with me, and I think I'm gonna have to come and see it again in Manchester' She said, as stunned as me thay we were bumping into one another miles away from the venue and in the light of day.

WHO KNOWS what tonight will bring!!!!?

How did I end up in the best band in the world, btw? Everyone in this ensemble, has talent as potent as a good shaman.

Pic by @deekoppangoleary by @gemagain

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18 days ago

Pasts, present and the paths ahead.
Woooooosh, the baptism continues as I take this idea to new places, the interconnectedness of it all feels unreal, so much of the work, from page to stage feels like family, like lineage and I don't have words to describe how it feels to collaborate on both multidisciplinary art in the city, I used to live as a young, wild dreamer at the same time as having my two children in tow. I'm so excited about the future.

The pic is from our rehearsals yesterday with Simone aka lil sib with their beautiful cello, that as an ensemble we've travelled with from New York to the Hebrides and now London town. by @gemagain

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19 days ago

Award-winning broadcaster and writer Gemma Cairney explores the collective power and wisdom to be found in the lives of twelve remarkable women at Margate Bookie o 17 October.

Tickets available at margatebookie.com taken in Turner Contemporary by @gemagain

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22 days ago