Features

Acoustic explorations Virginia’s explorations into the acoustic and emotional resonance within the landscape of the River Thames has provided the inspiration for a new musical project. “I intended to seek creative expressions for this resonance and to create a body … Read More

Exploring a year of writing and performance 2018 proved to be a very busy year for Virginia Astley. It was a year which saw the publication of her book The English River, as well as a select number of performances … Read More

Tales From The English River… With the publication of The English River, Virginia Astley has reached a milestone in a writing career that’s slowly evolved over recent years. It’s also a book that marks a personal journey that touches on … Read More

To mark the end of her residency at Hardy’s Cottage in October, literary website Writing Places asked writer-in-residence Virginia Astley to consider contemporary rural life in her essay. “It’s another damp autumn morning and dragging Henry Hoover round Hardy’s study … Read More

Virginia Astley has been writer-in-residence at Thomas Hardy’s Cottage in Dorchester throughout September and October. As the residency draws to a close, she shares her writer’s journal with Writing Places – a website created through a partnership between Literature Works … Read More

On this day in 1982, BBC Radio 1’s John Peel Show broadcast a session recorded with The Ravishing Beauties. The Peel Sessions, as they became to be known, usually consisted of four songs recorded by an artist live in the … Read More

1983 was an eventful year for Virginia, a year that mixed critical and commercial success with business frustration. The release of one single,two albums,soundtrack composing,session appearances,live concerts as well as trying to extricate herself from a recording contract kept Virginia … Read More

Can you tell us a little about what you’re currently working on? Well one thing I’m doing is listening to my father’s old music to put together a CD of instrumental music for EMI. So obviously it will have the … Read More

“We always had a running joke that men took over when you work with them, but I’m certainly not trying to prove any great feminist point” (VA, NME 10-9-83) “My first group, The Ravishing Beauties, was formed to promote Virginia … Read More

In 1982, Virginia Astley released her first record, the mysteriously entitled A Bao A Qu. Critics and fans alike were equally baffled by this strange title. Even radio presenter John Walters likened the title to that of an anagram. It … Read More