HISTORY OF PRESENT COMPLAINT
HLR’s debut full-length prosetry collection History of Present Complaint is published by Close To The Bone (Feb 2021). It was commended on the longlist in The Poetry Book Awards 2022, and was featured in many ‘Best Indie Books of 2021‘ lists.
Available in paperback and Kindle editions here.
Read early critical responses to HoPC here.
After a traumatic psychotic episode, a nameless young woman recounts past psychiatric crises in an attempt to make sense of her present and fight for her future.
A genre-defying debut collection of prosetry, History of Present Complaint reveals the devastating reality of living with chronic mental illness. HLR writes of the human experience in her distinctive style: knock-out blows of blistering truths are tempered with shots of sardonic British humour, and the lines between fact and fiction, safety and danger, sanity and insanity are blurred beyond recognition through her bold poetry and sharp prose.
History of Present Complaint is a damning
depiction of under-funded public mental health services and serves a vital role in giving a voice to the voiceless, shining a light on the darkest corners of the human condition and forcing the reader to see what has been there all along.
A brutal and beautiful work exploring mental illness, grief, suffering and mortality, History of Present Complaint will appeal to fans of Plath’s The Bell Jar, Juliet Escoria’s Black Cloud and 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane.
•••••••
PORTRAIT OF THE POET AS A HOT MESS
HLR’s micro-chapbook
Portrait of the Poet as a Hot Mess
was released digitally by Ghost City Press
on 5th July 2021 as part of their Summer Series.
Download it for free here.
•••••••
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2012-2023
Ariadne’s Thread (issue 7)
poetry: ‘Secret Saviours’
Infinite Press (issue 1)
poetry: ‘Flutterby’
The Gravity of the Thing (September)
poetry: ‘The Bat Cave’ / ‘Conchiglie’
Em Dash Literary Magazine (issue 2: Absence)
poetry: ‘St Peter’
Message in a Bottle literary journal (spring issue)
poetry: ‘Decline’
We Will Not Be Silenced: The Lived Experience of Sexual Harrassment and Sexual Assault (Indie Blu(e) Press)
poetry: ‘Vignettes of Violation’
Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen
poetry: ‘You vs Me’ / ‘The Signs’ / ‘Not a Mother’
streetcake experimental magazine (issue 62)
poetry: ‘Definition’
Free Verse Revolution
poetry: ‘Stranger’ / ‘On Melancholy’ / ‘Talking’
Dear Damsels (BODY issue)
poetry: ‘Out of the Mouths of Doctors’
Dust Poetry Magazine (issue 1)
poetry: ‘Found in Phone Notes’
In Parentheses Literary Magazine (winter 2020)
prose: ‘Moondance’
Chantarelle’s Notebook
poetry: ‘Etc.’ / ‘The View from the Smoking Room’
Re-side zine (issue #4: BODIES)
creative non-fiction/memoir: ‘You Are More Than The Sum Of Your Parts’
The Hellebore (summer/fall 2020)
creative non-fiction essay: ‘A Brief History of Tea’
Lunate (Flash 500 competition)
experimental flash fiction: ‘On The Cusp’
Anti-Heroin Chic (February)
poetry: ‘(Ador)/(Deplor)able’ / ‘(This) Isn’t It’ / ‘To Love X, Y and Z’ / ‘Things You’ll Find When I Die’ / ‘Lent’
Constellate Literary Journal (summer 2020)
Featured poet: ‘Empty’
Ghost Heart Literary Journal
poetry: ‘The Swim’ / ‘Inheritance’
Royal Rose: The Castle
poetry: ‘Parapraxis’
The Short Story
flash prose: ‘Lasagne’
3 Moon Magazine (Texts I Didn’t Send issue)
prose poetry: ‘To: DAD’
Here Comes Everyone Magazine (The GREEN Issue)
prose: ‘Dis-ease’
The Daily Drunk
poetry: ‘Bloody Mary’
Bukowski 100 (Newington Press, 2020)
prose poetry: ‘Oh, Man’
Close To The Bone (April Poetry Showcase)
poetry: ‘F*** Five’ / ‘Blunt Force’ / ‘Sweet Release’ / ‘Things You’ll Find When She Dies’
Dead Fern Press
creative-nonfiction: ‘Tracks’
Misery Tourism (April 2021 HOAXES issue)
fiction: ‘Strong Oak’
C*nsorship Magazine (The Ritz issue)
flash prose: ‘Red Flag’
Punk Noir Magazine
prose: ‘S.C.U.M’
poetry: ”til Death’
SCAB Magazine (issue 9, September 2021)
prose poetry: ‘Anatomy of a Disordered Personality: Bones’
Sledgehammer Literary Journal
poetry: ‘Terrified’ (June) / ‘Sometimes I Didn’t Talk At All’ (July) / ‘Another Time at Camden Lock’ (August)
Through The Looking Glass: Reflecting on Madness and Chaos Within (Indie Blu(e) Press)
poetry: ‘Out of the Mouths of Doctors’ [reprint]
Selcouth Station Press (July 2021)
poetry: ‘Textbook’ / ‘Corkboard’
Nauseated Drive (July 2021)
poetry: ‘Friends in Low Places’ / ‘Things He Said in Bed’ / ‘TWLOHA’
Lunate (August 2021)
poetry: ‘Kneading’
Outcast Press: Poetry Vol 2 (August 2021)
poetry: ‘How Could You?’
Green Ink Poetry (PYRES issue)
poetry: ‘Notions of Infinity’
Epoch Press (summer 2021 ROOTS issue)
creative non-fiction/memoir: ‘A Tiny Feast’
Mausoleum Press
poetry: ‘Cereal for Dinner’ / ‘Peculiar Times (Pre-Pandemic)’
Fevers of the Mind (Issue 5 / ‘Overcome’ anthology)
poetry: ‘Watch’
Expat Press (August 2021)
prose poetry: ‘One Time at Camden Lock’
A Thing Slice of Anxiety
poetry: ‘Blunt Force’ / ‘Nevertheless, You Are Left-Handed’ / ‘October Triptych’ / ‘Lovely’ / ‘Blind (Happy 3rd Death Day, Daddy)’
Emerge Literary Journal (Issue 20)
poetry: ‘Icarus’
The Best Worst Years: A Student Anthology (Acid Bath Publishing)
creative non-fiction: ‘& party & bullshit’
HASH Journal (September 2021)
creative non-fiction/memoir: ‘Daria & Pete’
Punk Noir Magazine (September 2021)
poetry: ”til Death’
Idle Ink
prose poetry: ‘City Triptych’
Outcast Press: Poetry Volume 4 (October 21)
poetry: ‘We Sigh’
Hobart (October 21)
creative non-fiction/memoir: ‘Snapshots of Us’
Sledgehammer Lit (October 21)
poetry: ‘All Roads Lead to Seven Sisters’
Variant Literature (Issue 8)
non-fiction/memoir: ‘High Enough’
Postscript Magazine
non-fiction essay/memoir: ‘A Brief History of Tea’ [reprint]
But You Don’t Look Sick: The Real Life Adventures of Fibro Bitches, Lupus Warriors, and other Super Heroes Battling Invisible Illness (Indie Blu(e) Press)
poetry: ‘-algia’
Sledgehammer Lit (Nov 21)
poetry: ‘I am, I am, I am’
Reservoir Road (Issue 6)
CNF prosetry: ‘(Pro-)/(Retro-)gression’
Damnation Lit
CNF prose: ‘Wild Horses’
Sledgehammer Lit (Dec 21)
poetry: ‘Ivy’
Hungry Ghost Magazine (Issue 2: Bad Objects)
poetry: ‘Mercy’
Bullshit Literary Magazine
prose poetry: ‘Can’t/Won’t Write’
Versification
poetry: ‘Sandwiches’
Schuylkill Valley Journal (Dispatches)
poetry: ‘Diary Entries – 11/52’
Full House Literary (Featured Curator, Jan 2022)
poetry: ‘Weeping Women (1937 & 2017)’
Alternate Route (Jan 2022)
poetry: ‘Meant To’ & ‘Things He Made This Week’ & ‘Fight Night’
VoidSpace (Jan 2022)
interactive CNF: ‘On The Cusp’ [reprint]
Punk Noir Magazine
poetry: ‘Liberteens’
Bandit Fiction (February 2022)
fiction: ‘Sink’
D.F.L Lit (Feb 2022)
prose: ‘Burnt Teaspoons’
Ample Remains
poetry: ‘Lullaby’
Catatonic Daughters (Issue 2)
poetry: ‘Savage’
Corporeal Literary Magazine
poetry: ‘Ways In Which Your Body Stopped You From Living Your Dreams’ & ‘Hair’ & ‘We Sigh’ [reprint]
The Institutionalized Review (Feb 2022)
poetry: ‘Custody Conversations’
Scrawl Place
CNF: ‘Fumar mata’
Northern Gravy (Fifth Edition)
poetry: ‘Want’ & ‘Heart(less)’
Gutslut Press (Bonemilk Anthology)
poetry: ‘Teeth’
Resurrection Magazine (June 2022)
poetry: ‘Your Name in Flames’ & ‘Mundane Things That Immediately Make Me Think of a Specific Dead Person’
Kissing Dynamite (Issue 42, June 2022)
poetry: ‘Teen Aesthete’
South Florida Poetry Journal (August 2022)
poetry: ‘Injuries You Cannot See #29’
Rust + Moth (Autumn 2022)
poetry: ‘Apotropaic’
SICK Magazine (Issue 4, July 2022)
poetry: ‘Baby Boy’ & ‘Out of the Mouths of Doctors’ [reprint]
trampset (September 2022)
prose poetry: ‘”Strong and Sturdy”‘
Roi Fainéant Press (October 2022)
creative non-fiction: ‘Notebook Fragments 2018-2022’
Rejection Letters (November 2022)
poetry: ‘Creep’
FORTHCOMING (2023)
The Hellebore (Issue 10)
experimental prose poem: ‘Things To Do Instead of Dying’
Gutslut Press (~Suicidal Aliens anthology, 2023)
poetry: ‘My Illnesses Apologised to Me’ & ‘Deep’
Carousel (Spring 2023)
poetry: ‘On visiting Stationers Park playground for the first time since 1999’
One Hand Clapping (Spring 2023)
poetry: ‘Worried to Death’
Anthropocene (May 2023)
poetry: ‘”Breaking Up” in Soho’
•••••••
PRIZES
‘On The Cusp’ by HLR
SHORTLISTED: Lunate Flash 500 competition 2020
•
‘Lasagne’ by HLR
WINNER: The Cambridge Prize for Flash Fiction 2020
•
‘Tracks’ by HLR
RUNNER-UP: Dead Fern Press Valentine’s Contest 2021
•
‘Anatomy of a Disordered Personality: Skin’ by HLR
WINNER: The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2021
•
‘How Could You?’ by HLR
NOMINATED: The Pushcart Prize 2022
•
‘When I First Bled’ by HLR
COMMENDED WINNER: The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition 2021
•
‘Inventory: Things You’ll Find When She Dies’ by HLR
COMMENDED LONGLIST: The Plough Poetry Prize 2022
•
History of Present Complaint by HLR
LONGLISTED: THE POETRY BOOK AWARDS 2022
•••••••
NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS
HLR was a resident writer at Hijacked Amygdala from its inception in March 2016, posting new writing most Fridays until April 2020.
You can read all of her contributions to Hijacked Amygdala here.
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HLR is the author of a critical edition of Mother and Daughter (an uncompleted sonnet sequence) by Augusta Webster (2014). This book is available through the University of London. If you do not have access to the University of London library/archive services and think that you may find this edition useful to your studies, you can request it directly by emailing: contact@treacleheart.com
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