This Is a Message to Persons Unknown (Paperback)

Flesh and blood are what we are, flesh and blood are who we are, our cover is blown …

This Is a Message to Persons Unknown is the first full history of the legendary band Poison Girls. From their first gigs in Brighton in 1977 to years of DIY tours across Britain and Europe, the band forged a radical path through music, politics, and art.

Fronted by the uncompromising Vi Subversa—a singular lyricist, songwriter, and voice—Poison Girls challenged punk’s Year Zero myth, weaving ferocity with wit, emotional depth, and inventive sound. Just as formative to anarcho-punk as Crass, yet defiantly their own, Poison Girls confronted misogyny, ageism, and authoritarianism with a passion and clarity that still resonates today.

Drawing on exclusive interviews, zines, contemporary accounts, and the personal archives of band members, this richly illustrated history documents Poison Girls’ unforgettable songs, striking graphics, and fierce campaigns of resistance.

More than just a band biography, This Is a Message to Persons Unknown tells the story of a group of dissident artists who turned punk into both a protest and a possibility—an experiment in living, creating, and fighting for something new.

Rich Cross is a researcher and writer on British and European protest movements and counter cultural resistance, particularly from the anarchist and libertarian traditions, Cross has published and presented extensively about the UK’s original anarcho-punk scene. He has edited the The Hippies Now Wear Black website for well over a decade, documenting both the history and the continuing creative dissidence of that scene's most resilient troublemakers.

Alec Dunn is a designer, printer, and nurse. He coedits Signal: A Journal of International Political Graphics & Culture and coauthored It Did Happen Here: An Antifascist People’s History. He is a member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative.

Erin Yanke is a self-taught documentarian with thirty-five years of projects. She regularly publishes zines and occasionally produces podcasts and films. She was a coauthor of It Did Happen Here: An Antifascist People’s History.