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Biography
American

Henry Rollins

1961

Henry Rollins is a musician, writer, actor, and spoken-word performer who was the frontman of Black Flag (1981–1986) and the Rollins Band, and who has published over twenty books of prose, poetry, and journals. Get in the Van (1994) — his account of life in Black Flag — won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. His writing — raw, direct, furiously energetic — captures the punk ethos translated into literature.

Past sales0
PeriodContemporary
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Henry Lawrence Garfield (b. 1961), known as Henry Rollins, was born on 13 February 1961 in Washington, D.C. He grew up in the D.C. hardcore punk scene and joined Black Flag as vocalist in 1981 at age twenty. After Black Flag dissolved in 1986, he formed the Rollins Band and began publishing through his own imprint, 2.13.61 Publications (named after his birthday).

Life and Career

Rollins’s writing emerged directly from the punk DIY ethic. Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag (1994) — a memoir compiled from journals he kept during his years in the band, documenting the grinding poverty, violence, van breakdowns, and ferocious live shows — won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in its audio version.

Black Coffee Blues (1992) — short prose and journal entries — established his literary voice: terse, muscular, confessional, and relentlessly honest. Eye Scream (1996) and Solipsist (1998) were more experimental. See a Grown Man Cry / Now Watch Him Die collected his journal writing.

Rollins has also acted in over thirty films, hosted television and radio shows, and maintained one of the most rigorous touring schedules of any spoken-word performer, delivering two-to-three-hour shows of monologue, comedy, and political commentary.

Key Works

  • Get in the Van (1994)
  • Black Coffee Blues (1992)
  • Solipsist (1998)

Collecting Rollins

2.13.61 Publications titles — particularly limited editions and early chapbooks — bring $20–$80.