11:38am Tuesday 13th July 2010
On her last day as a Durham University undergraduate, emerging author Rosa Rankin-Gee speaks to Jim Entwistle about her aspirations, her literary family and her double life as a goal-scoring footballer.
"ICURSE the day Channel 4 on demand was invented,”
says Rosa Rankin-Gee, sipping on a coffee in a Durham café. There’s a tremendous din coming from the bean grinder behind her, but the 23-year-old is in full flow. “I go to bed, I’ve got nothing to do, do I start a new book or watch a programme about gipsy wives? I am looking forward to having more time.” Rosa comes across as someone to whom there will never be enough time, but she may have to adapt because things are really taking off for her now.
Just last month she was ranked alongside other emerging talent such as Twilight actor Robert Pattinson, cricketer Stuart Broad, and musician Tinie Tempah as one of Esquire magazine’s Brilliant Brits, after her short story Gumdeath appeared in the same edition. The story, about a hungover wander through Paris, was written in a few hours as a New Year present for her friend Alex. But she admits it almost failed to make it into his hands, not to mention those of the editor of Esquire.
“As I was on the way to see Alex, on the tube, a page blew away and I had to chase after it,” she says. (She caught the page, thankfully, and I later learn that could be down to a turn of pace developed on the university football fields, but more on that later). “He loved it, we read it together at a bus stop at the stroke of midnight, as a large lady next to us was singing. It was very surreal, but very fitting.”
She shies away from it, but it would be remiss not to mention the fact that Rosa’s parents are not strangers to the literary world themselves.
Her mother, Maggie Gee, is an acclaimed novelist and the first female chair of the Royal Society of Literature, and her father, Nick Rankin, is a freelance writer and broadcaster, and former chief producer of arts at the BBC World Service.
But although she acknowledges that the creative arts are in the blood, Rosa says she is keen to make her own way. “I wouldn’t abuse that link,” she adds. “I don’t believe in nepotism at all, and wouldn’t want to do anything that I haven’t worked for myself. I am my own person.”
Rosa says she’ll be sad to leave Durham, although she didn’t take to the city’s university life when she first arrived four years ago. “It was abominable,” she says. “I was asked all the time where I was schooled. It was just a network of people from public school and it was really impenetrable.
I think it has changed somewhat since then.
“At first I regretted not going to Manchester, where there is such a strong creative scene, but then I came round to thinking that if there’s not a scene, then what an opportunity to create one.”
With that in mind, Rosa and a close group of friends founded the Fun and Beautiful Journal, a lovingly constructed shambles of poetry, short stories and photography, with about 1,500 copies of each edition made and circulated around Durham. Short of cash to pay for the third and final instalment, the group raised the necessary money by enlisting 60 people to take chlamydia tests with the NHS. Groups get paid by the head to give urine samples, apparently.
On the cover of the issue it reads: “Free (Paid For With Pee)”.
The team behind the journal may be heading in their own directions following graduation, but Rosa has ambitious plans for its evolution.
With contributors soon to be scattered between London, Paris and Berlin, the vision has become more grand; a continental publication embracing three of Europe’s most vibrant cultural hubs.
First though, she hopes to finish a project entitled Alight Here, an effort to capture the essence of each of the 270 London Underground stations through poetry and photography.
The material is being compiled online, with a view to collating it into a coffee table book when it is finished.
She may have embraced the internet as a tool for getting the job done, but Rosa is an advocate of good old-fashioned paper and ink.
“I really do believe in the written press and very much want it to stay,”
she says. “I don’t like Kindle and iBooks and the other electronic formats, because I love anything written to be in a real, tangible form.
There is definitely a movement among younger people who really want their children to have newspapers and real books.”
To cap off what sounds to me to be a busy summer – bearing in mind that my own post-graduate summer was spent pouring beer for hill walkers – she is planning to focus more on her music (she plays piano and has already gigged in London and Durham) and to spend three weeks in Sark writing her first novella.
Whether or not she’ll resurrect her footballing career remains altogether less certain. She was a regular for Hatfield College during her time in Durham and when I ask her what position she played, she emphatically replies “goal-scorer”. Given a moment to reflect, she adds with a knowing smile: “Well, I am a striker.
I have a pair of old Umbro boots with studs missing. I’m fast, but I kick the ball with a bend.”
So there’s the pan-European journal, the impending novella, the tube station project and the music career.
And in the unlikely event of all that failing, Rosa could always dust off “the old Umbros” and go knock a few in for England. I dare say she would do a better job than Wayne Rooney.
Catering for baby
THE Cornmill Shopping Centre, in Darlington, has launched a parenting room, as part of a wider programme of improvements to the centre’s washroom facilities.
The facility is fully equipped with a Kensington Breastfeeding Chair and has also been fitted with an air purifier which cleanses the air and removes smells and harmful bacteria, along with a nappy bin and hand washing facilities.
“It provides mothers with a safe and comfortable place to take care of their children’s needs whilst out shopping,” says centre manager Susan Young.
Energy booster IF you’re lacking in get up and go, Boots has launched a supplement with powerful antioxidant properties, which claims to help to maintain energy levels.
The ingredient Coenzyme Q10 has long been recognised for its functions for general health and wellness.
Now Boots says its Feel the Difference High Strength CoQH 50mg offers this energy nutrient in its most usable form, ubiquinol.
This is said to help maintain optimum levels of increased stamina and energy and has also been shown in clinical trials to aid increased mental agility. A 30-day pack costs £17.99.
Go with the glow The makers of Lumecin Overnight Brightening Gluco-Protein Treatment say their overnight facial will help you to wake up to a younger-looking and brighter skin.
It contains glucosamine and salicylic acid, among other ingredients, to improve skin clarity, shrink pores and lighten age spots.
It costs £30.95 for 40ml, from beauty counters.
Rest and relaxation THE Serenity Spa, at Seaham Hall, in Seaham, County Durham, has created two packages designed to offer total respite and relaxation, with access to an array of award-winning facilities for night and day.
The Time to Spa package, which is available from 9am until 5pm, offers unlimited eight-hour access to all that the Feng-Shui inspired Serenity Spa has to offer, including the 20 metre ozone cleaned pool with massage stations, the samarium with crystal light therapy and the sauna with quartz crystal. Lunch is also included.
Night-owls and busy workers will also find they have been catered for, with the spa’s Twilight Time to Spa package, which offers access to all of the aforementioned facilities from 6pm until 10pm – perfect for an afterwork rescue or a luxurious date.
Dinner is also provided in this package and is once again served at the spa’s Ozone restaurant, which takes on more of an East/West Fusion style in the evenings.
The Time to Spa package is available from £75 per person Sunday to Friday and £85 per person Saturdays.
The Twilight Time to Spa is currently priced at £45 per person Monday to Thursday or £55 per person Fridays and Saturdays.
■ For more information or to book please call the Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall on 01915-161-400 or visit seaham-hall.co.uk
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/trade_directory/