Parramisha by Frances Roberts-Reilly
What’s written about us by non-Roma is a stereotypical image that’s both romantic and vilified. In writing our own Parramisha-story we are obligated to deconstruct those prevailing narratives readily available in popular culture and that have unjustly treated us.
Parramisha challenges the reader to reconstruct a new image as a life affirming narrative of our wholeness as a Romani identity.
Advanced praise
“This deeply felt collection is an exemplar of how a Romani heritage may be celebrated … as a wellspring of cultural innovation and adaptation within diverse contemporary society.”
-Thomas Acton, OBE, Emeritus Professor of Romani Studies
“Her poems are precious and powerful, almost like listening to a serenade if you read them aloud. Her voice has luminous presence. Each poem comes radiantly alive on the page. This is a unique collection bringing together different worlds, so it seems, with each poem.”
-Pegasus Literary Review
Frances Roberts-Reilly has an international profile as a Romani writer, playwright, Storyteller, Poetry Wales poet and filmmaker. After making award-winning documentaries on human rights, she earned an Honours degree in English Literature at the University of Toronto. True to the spirit of the Romani diaspora her poems have been published internationally in well regarded anthologies in Canada, U.S., U.K., Wales and Europe.
Her books are Firebird Award-winner Parramisha: A Romani Poetry Collection (Cinnamon Press) and The Green Man (Stanza Series, TOPS). Her Romani poetry is now part of the Welsh government’s anti-racism and diversity curriculum taught in Welsh schools. Her essays are published in the Critical Romani Studies Journal by the Central European University, Budapest and Planet Welsh Internationalist, Wales. Frances is a contributor to the Roma Peoples Project at Columbia University and ERIAC European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture archive of Roma Women in Film. Her plays are, Mad Gwen and Hecate’s Suppers performed at She Speaks, International Women’s Day. Flush Ink Productions (2019 & 2022); while Esmeralda Speaks is in production. She has performed as a storyteller of her family's Gypsy tales at the Aberystwyth International Storytelling Festival, the Guelph Guild of Storytellers and the Baden Storytellers Guild.
Frances is a guest author on CBC Radio, WSRQ Radio, Sarasota and CKWR 98.5 Community Radio. She is producer of the podcast Watershed Writers on Midtown Radio KW. Frances is an LBTQ+ and BIPOC grandmother, living in Kitchener, Ontario.
