Manchester Literature Festival: LIVE Events Programme
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Manchester Literature Festival:
LIVE Events Programme
Featuring special In Conversations with leading novelists, non- From Manchester with Love: Paul Morley in Conversation
Saturday 9 October, 3pm
fiction writers, musicians and activists alongside poetry HOME (Theatre)
showcases and events for Young Families. All events will be in
person in regular Festival venues with Reduced Capacity ‘Superficially Wilson was a provocative liberal arts entertainer, minor music-
industry player, capricious cultural theorist and abstract, self-celebrating know-it-
audiences. Events on 9, 10 and 11 October at HOME and Central all’ but in Paul Morley’s stunning biography From Manchester with Love, The Life
Library will be filmed and available to watch as part of MLF and Opinions of Tony Wilson, the legendary Anthony H. Wilson is revealed in all his
complex, contradictory glory. Founder of the Haçienda and co-founder of Factory
DIGITAL in November 2021. Records, Wilson shaped Manchester’s music and cultural scene as much as the city
shaped him. Writer, broadcaster, and cultural critic Paul Morley was one of
View the full programme HERE
Wilson’s closest friends and the man Wilson himself appointed to write his
biography. Join us for an investigation into and celebration of Tony Wilson and the
Buy Tickets for events at HOME Theatre HERE
city he loved. Paul will be in conversation with LoneLady. Julie Campbell a.k.a
Buy Tickets for events at all other venues HERE LoneLady is a musician, songwriter, singer and producer from Manchester. She has
released 3 critically-acclaimed albums on Warp records – Nerve Up, Hinterland and
Box Office news & FAQs HERE Former Things. Presented in partnership with Faber Members and sponsored by
The Midland Hotel Manchester.
Ticket & a copy of From Manchester with Love £30 / Ticket only £15
Book on 0161 200 1500 or homemcr.org
Jeanette Winterson & Mark O’Connell I Belong Here: Nature Writing Workshop with Anita Sethi
Saturday 9 October, 6pm Sunday 10 October, 11am
Central Library Manchester Museum
‘How did we get here? Where might we go?’ Is the future ‘a screen onto which we A two-hour session to introduce you to nature writing, with tutor Anita Sethi. You’ll
project our fantasies and terrors’? What can the past tell us about the future? Are explore how to observe and describe the natural world. The relationship between
we all doomed? And what’s gender got to do with it? Jeanette Winterson’s latest people and place, landscape, wildlife, climate change, natural history and more can
book 12 Bytes considers our relationship with AI, how it might develop and what all be explored within nature writing. Weather permitting, this workshop will also
we need to know. In Notes from an Apocalypse Mark O’Connell (To Be a Machine) be partly a ‘walkshop’, incorporating a walk through the local area, learning to
spends time with preppers, rewilders and people who want to colonise Mars. Join sharpen the observational powers of nature along the way.
us for what’s sure to be a fascinating discussion about what humanity might do
This is a welcoming workshop for northern writers of colour and those from low-
next. Jeanette is the author of 10 novels for adults, as well as children’s books,
income backgrounds. In the UK, nature writing is still an overwhelmingly
screenplays and non-fiction, including the bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When monocultural literary field. Yet the past year has shown more than ever why nature
You Could Be Normal? Mark’s first book To Be a Machine won the Wellcome Book matters to all of us, crucial to our mental health and sense of belonging. Supported
Prize in 2018. Presented in partnership with Centre for New Writing and Creative by a Royal Society of Literature, Literature Matters Award and I Belong Here
Manchester and hosted by writer Kate Feld. foundation patron, Paula Hawkins.
Tickets £12/£10
All participants will receive a free copy of I Belong Here and the workshop is
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
limited to 15 participants. To reserve your place, please email Mel
at: office@manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Anita Sethi Monique Roffey and Ingrid Persaud
Sunday 10 October, 2pm Sunday 10 October, 2pm
Manchester Museum Central Library
‘I had to keep walking through the world.’ In Summer 2019, journalist Anita Sethi ‘Later I saw that change came as change always comes, from a chain of events with
was subjected to a race hate crime while on a train. In the aftermath, her desire to a long history, too long to see from back to front, till it come.’ In The Mermaid of
be in nature led to a decision to walk the Pennine Way, an act she writes about in Black Conch, Monique Roffey’s Costa Book of the Year winner, the life of David, one
her debut book I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain. While of the island’s fishermen, is disrupted when he saves Aycayia, a mermaid, from her
asserting her right to be in the world and take up space as a brown woman, she captors. While in Ingrid Persaud’s Love After Love, Betty Ramdin invites Mr Chetan
transforms a cruel, ugly act into one of healing, kindness and compassion, to lodge with her and her son Solo following the death of her husband/Solo’s
considering on the way the meanings of home and belonging. Anita is a writer and father. The creation of a new, unconventional, family changes all of their lives. Two
broadcaster from Manchester. Her work has been published in the anthologies award-winning Caribbean novelists join us to discuss determined women, magical
Women on Nature, Seasons, Common People, Seaside Special: Postcards from The writing, family and place. Monique Roffey is the author of seven books including
Edge, We Mark Your Memory and Solstice Shorts among others. Her career The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, which was shortlisted for The Women’s
highlights include going birdwatching with Margaret Atwood in the UK’s oldest Prize. Ingrid has won both the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the BBC
nature reserve. Anita will be in conversation about her experiences with Esme
National Short Story Award. Hosted by writer Kate Feld.
Ward, Director of Manchester Museum. Presented in partnership with Manchester
Museum. Tickets £12/£10
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Tickets £8/£6
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Mona Arshi, Alycia Pirmohamed & Nidhi Zak / Aria Eipe Elif Shafak
Sunday 10 October, 4pm Sunday 10 October, 4.30pm
Manchester Museum Central Library
Three superb female poets whose work considers the body and women’s lives
come together for a special showcase. Mona Arshi’s superb second collection Dear A fig tree with a tale to tell; a grieving teenage girl who wants to know her family’s
Big Gods explores ideas of God, nature, grief, women and hope. She will read some story; two sets of lovers hiding from society. In her enchanting new novel, The
recent poems and an extract from her forthcoming, debut novel Somebody Loves Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak considers how the story of humans and the
You. Award winner Alycia Pirmohamed’s latest excellent pamphlet Hinge considers natural world are entwined. Set in London and the island of Cyprus, Elif explores
ideas about the body, belonging, heritage, nature, dual identity, home and borders. roots, trauma and how understanding ourselves and our history can be healing. Elif
While Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe’s inventive debut collection Auguries of a Minor God is a British-Turkish novelist, feminist and activist and we’re delighted to welcome
explores women’s stories, bodies, love, lust and the lives of a family of refugees as her back to MLF. The author of 19 books, translated into 54 languages, Elif’s
they settle in the UK. Mona Arshi won the Forward Prize for best first collection previous novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the
with Small Hands. Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in the UK. She Booker Prize, and The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by the BBC as one of 100
was the winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award in 2020. Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe is a Novels That Shaped Our World. Elif will be in conversation with Ellah P Wakatama.
poet, pacifist and fabulist. Born in India, she grew up across the Middle East,
Europe and North America before calling Ireland home. She is the recipient of a
Tickets £10/£8
Next Generation Artist Award. Presented in partnership with Manchester Poetry
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Library and Manchester Museum.
Tickets £8/£6
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
An Evening with Alan Johnson An Evening with Bernadine Evaristo
Sunday 10 October, 7.30pm Monday 11 October, 8pm
Central Library HOME (Theatre)
Much-loved former Labour MP Alan Johnson makes a welcome return to MLF. The first Black woman and the first Black British author to win the Booker Prize for
Following his series of successful memoirs – This Boy, In My Life, The Long and her stunning novel Girl, Woman, Other, Manchester Literature Festival is thrilled to
Winding Road and Please, Mr Postman, Alan has turned to fiction, joining us to welcome Anglo-Nigerian writer Bernardine Evaristo for a special event to celebrate
discuss his thrilling debut novel The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Featuring a Ukrainian her new book Manifesto: On Never Giving Up. Bernardine has spent three decades
waitress mixed up in a poisoning plot and an administrator who finds himself on as a trailblazing writer, mentor and activist and Manifesto is her intimate and
inspirational, no-holds-barred account of how she did it. Bernardine will discuss her
the run from Russian secret agents and the Met, it’s an enthralling, smartly written,
ground-breaking work including her many brilliant novels (Mr Loverman, Blonde
page turner. Alan will discuss his passion for plot-twists, politics and writing with
Roots), her poetry and her theatre dramas with fellow writer and MLF Patron
Ellah P Wakatama.
Jackie Kay. This event is sponsored by Weightmans.
Tickets £12/£10 Ticket & a copy of Manifesto £30 / Ticket only £16
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk Book on 0161 200 1500 or homemcr.org
Copies of Manifesto: On Never Giving Up will be available to collect before the
event.
Black Britain Writing Back: Bernardine Evaristo Bob Stanley & Tessa Norton: Excavate!
With Judith Bryan, Jacqueline Roy & Nicola Williams The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
Tuesday 12 October, 7pm Wednesday 13 October, 6.30pm
Central Library HOME (Theatre)
Celebrating a landmark new series curated by Booker Prize winning writer ‘This is the world of the Fall. This is the Fall-shaped hole they punched in the wall.’
Bernardine Evaristo, Black Britain Writing Back re-introduces lost or hard-to-find In their innovative book Excavate! The Wonderful and Frightening World of The
books by Black writers who wrote about Black Britain and the diaspora across the Fall, musician and author, Bob Stanley, artist and author, Tessa Norton and their
Twentieth Century. Joining Bernardine is Jacqueline Roy whose novel The Fat Lady varied contributors explore Prestwich, repetition, politics, literature, class,
Sings tells the stories of Gloria and Merle, two women in adjacent beds in the ward amateurism, working men’s clubs, football and education alongside album artwork,
gig posters and fan art. All the things that made The Fall ‘a dazzling city founded on
of a mental hospital; Judith Bryan whose novel Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is a
speculative fiction, work ethics and northern architecture’. Bob and Tessa also
family psychodrama in which two sisters battle with a shared but suppressed
discuss their own relationship with The Fall along with host, writer Adelle Stripe
history of secrets, tensions and betrayals that need reckoning; and Nicola Williams’ (Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile).
Without Prejudice, a thriller in which Lee Mitchell, a Black working class barrister, is
succeeding against the odds. Presented in partnership with Faber Members. To find out more about Faber
Members and join their community of readers visit here
Tickets £8/£6
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk Tickets £12/£10
Book on 0161 200 1500 or homemcr.org
Spanish-Language Stories: Mateo García Elizondo, Valerie Miles An Evening with Colm Tóibín
& Cristina Morales Thursday 14 October, 8pm
Thursday 14 October, 6pm Central Library
Central Library
‘I can make no sense of the present. It is all confusion. I know nothing about the
Granta’s second selection of Best of Young Spanish Language Novelists showcases future.’ In his extraordinary new novel, The Magician, Colm Tóibín conjures up the
the work of 25 of the most exciting writers in the Spanish-speaking world. Valerie past and the life of writer Thomas Mann. Against the backdrop of two world wars,
Miles, editor, writer, translator, co-founder of Granta’s literary journal in Spanish Colm charts Mann’s rise to prominence and the story of his family life as he
joins us to discuss the selection, which encompasses thirteen countries and grapples with deep seated feelings about his homeland of Germany and his desire
territories. Two of the chosen authors will appear with Valerie; Mateo García for young men. Colm is the award-winning Irish author of nine novels including
Elizondo (Mexico), whose story Capsule (translated by Robin Myers) tells of a Brooklyn, Nora Webster and The Testament of Mary. He has been shortlisted for
prisoner launched into space to see out his sentence, and Cristina Morales (Spain) the Booker Prize three times and has won both the Costa Novel Award and the
whose admiration of fierce women and fury at their treatment by men drives her International Dublin Literary Award. Colm will be in conversation with poet John
contribution Ode to Cristina Morales (translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn). Mateo McAuliffe. This event is sponsored by The Edwardian Manchester and presented in
García Elizondo was born in Mexico City. He wrote the film Desierto, and his first
partnership with Centre for New Writing and Creative Manchester.
novel, Una cita con la Lady, won the City of Barcelona Award. Cristina Morales is
from Granada, Spain and works with the contemporary dance company Iniciativa Tickets £12/£10
Sexual Femenina. She is the author of the novels Los combatientes, Últimas tardes Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
con Teresa de Jesús, Terroristas modernos and Lectura fácil. Hosted by Mariana
Casale and presented in partnership with Instituto Cervantes.
Tickets are free but advance booking is advised
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Leo Boix, Kayo Chingonyi & Andrew McMillan Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel with Rachel Holmes &
Friday 15 October, 6.30pm Lemn Sissay
International Anthony Burgess Foundation Friday 15 October, 7pm
Manchester Museum
Three brilliant contemporary Vintage poets showcase work from their excellent
new collections which all explore themes of grief, lineage, and love. Latinx poet Leo What does a life in resistance look like? Acclaimed biographer Rachel
Boix’s Ballad of a Happy Immigrant travels from Buenos Aires to Merseyside to Holmes (Eleanor Marx) brings Sylvia Pankhurst out of the shadows of her family
London, focusing on queer experience, family, displacement, and the sea. Kayo and shows us her lifelong commitment to human rights and activism; her global
Chingonyi’s A Blood Condition tracks an illness along its human trajectory, but also adventures and internationalism; her strong connections to Ethiopia, and her
finds joy in music and dancing. While Andrew McMillan’s third collection, determination to fight the evils of racism, fascism and imperialism. Rachel will be in
Pandemonium, considers the vulnerability and fierceness in caring for a loved one, conversation with poet, playwright and performer Lemn Sissay. Lemn is the author
death, bodies and how solace can be found in the garden. Presented in partnership of the acclaimed memoir My Name is Why, Gold from the Stone: New and Selected
with Manchester Poetry Library and Centre for New Writing. Poems and the play Something Dark. His specialist subject on Mastermind was
‘Sylvia Pankhurst in Ethiopia.’ This event is sponsored by The Edwardian
Tickets £8/£6 Manchester and presented in partnership with Centre for New Writing, Creative
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk Manchester and Manchester Museum.
Tickets £12/£10
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.ukLittle Reads Family Day with Chris Haughton & Daishu Ma Superheroes: Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength
Saturday 16 October, 10am Saturday 16 October, 2pm
Central Library Central Library
What do you want to be when you grow up? Curated by Stormzy and the #Merky
Chris Haughton & Daishu Ma 10.00 – 10.45
Books team, Superheroes is a new children’s book celebrating modern day heroes
Music & Drama Family Workshop 11.15 – 12.15
from across the worlds of sport, music, food, the arts and more. Join us to celebrate
We are delighted to present a very special in person event with Chris Haughton, the
the launch with an interactive workshop run by performance poet Sophia Thakur
acclaimed picture book creator of titles including Oh No George! and Shh! We Have and illustrator Denzell Dankwah. This will be a lively afternoon of drawing, poetry
a Plan for an action-packed family event celebrating his story Maybe… He will be and writing to encourage and empower children to harness their power and
joined by author and illustrator Daishu Ma who will translate the stories into become their own superhero.
Mandarin Chinese as well as introducing us to some of her own wonderful
characters. Families can then join a drama & music workshop by acclaimed This 2 hour workshop will finish at 4pm. Suitable for ages 9 – 12 yrs. A responsible
Manchester artists Yemi Bolatiwa & Ged Mulherin as they respond to Chris’s adult must stay in the venue for the duration of the workshop.
naughty characters. Ged Mulherin is a renowned drama workshop leader, actor and
co-founder of TripleC. Yemi Bolatiwa is a versatile contemporary soul and jazz Tickets £5
singer and workshop leader, she brings her experience to the community and Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
family settings with big smiles and big energy.
Suitable for ages 2 – 6. All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Tickets £5 (includes Music & Drama Workshop).
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.ukCabaret for Freedom Tenement Kid: Bobby Gillespie in Conversation
With Tolu Agbelusi, Yomi Sode & Young Identity Saturday 16 October, 8pm
Saturday 16 October, 7pm HOME (Theatre)
St John’s Church
Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie was born into a working-class Glaswegian
Join us for an evening of poetry and music reflecting on the theme of such a time as family in the summer of 1961. His brilliant memoir Tenement Kid charts his
this. Special guests include Nigerian British poets Tolu Agbelusi and Yomi Sode. childhood, his work as a printers’ apprentice, his rock ‘n’ roll epiphany at a Thin
Tolu’s stunning collection Locating Strongwoman (Jacaranda) explores the Lizzy gig and his own journey, via the Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream, to
unperformed self, womanhood, and the art of living. She is also a human rights cultural icon. Published thirty years after the release of Screamadelica, Bobby
lawyer and the founder of Home Sessions, a poetry development programme for Gillespie’s memoir cuts a righteous path through a decade lost to Thatcherism and
young Black poets. Yomi has performed his work, including solo show COAT, saved by acid house. Join us to hear Bobby discuss his life, his influences and the
internationally and his play and breathe… enjoyed a sold out run at The Almeida making of one of the most innovative albums of the 90s. Hosted by Adelle Stripe,
earlier this year. His first poetry collection Manorism is due from Penguin in 2022. author of Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile.
There will also be music from up-and-coming vocal artist Shola Mcleod and new
work from the Manchester based collective Young Identity. Hosted by Shirley May Copies of Tenement Kid will be available to collect before the event.
and presented in partnership with St John’s Church.
Ticket & a copy of Tenement Kid £30
Tickets £10/£6 Book on 0161 200 1500 or homemcr.org
Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.ukWild Spaces with Clare Shaw Vona Groarke, John McAuliffe & Victoria Kennefick Sunday 17 October, 11.30am Sunday 17 October, 4pm Meet outside HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, M15 4FN International Anthony Burgess Foundation Surrounded by the concrete and crowds of the city, we can feel a long way from Three superb Irish poets showcase their latest collections. In Vona Groarke’s nature. Whether it’s through memory, imagination or the miraculous microsystems stunning Link, the world is personified, entering a conversation with the narrator, of urban nature, poet Clare Shaw will invite you to notice the wild spaces inside and Irish, about what it is to be human and survive, particularly during a pandemic. around you. In the heart of Manchester city centre, you’ll encounter and create Victoria Kennefick explores women’s hunger whether for food, acknowledgement, poetry which will alert you to urban wild spaces, your place within them – and their or love, drawing a line between past and present, in her brilliantly inventive debut place within you. Clare Shaw was appointed as a Carbon Poet in Residence by collection Eat or We Both Starve. While John McAuliffe celebrates twenty years’ Manchester Literature Festival and Lancashire Wildlife Trust earlier in the year and work considering the domestic, family life, day-to-day living, football and has been commissioned to write new poems inspired by her interaction with the friendships filtered through his unique perspective in Selected Poems. Presented in local landscape. She has three poetry collections with Bloodaxe - Straight partnership with Centre for New Writing and Creative Manchester. Ahead, Head On and Flood. Her fourth collection Towards a General Theory of Love was awarded a Northern Writer’s Award and will be published by Bloodaxe in Tickets £8/£6 2022. Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk This 90-minute outdoor poetry event in the heart of Manchester city centre features poetry performance, reading and simple writing exercises suitable for writers at all levels of experience. Presented in partnership with Lancashire Wildlife Trust and My Wild City. Tickets £6 Book on 0343 208 0500 or manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
creative:connection Friday 22 October, 1pm Central Library We are delighted to welcome national charity, Create, back to MLF. Create believe in the power of creativity to change lives. Their creative:connection project brings together disabled and non-disabled children to create, build connections and break down barriers around disability. This October children from four schools in Manchester and Salford (Chatsworth High School, Grange Academy, Loreto High School and New Park Academy) joined forces with professional musicians to create new pieces of music, which they will perform at this special celebration event. Create (createarts.org.uk) runs dozens of projects like this across the UK, and are expanding in the North West. If you are an artist or a partner who would like to work with them, email hannah@createarts.org.uk Tickets FREE – booking advised Email miriam@manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk for more details and to reserve a ticket
FESTIVAL FUNDERS & SPONSORS Venue & Event Partners Manchester Literature Festival extends thanks to the many individuals, organisations, staff and volunteers who work to make the Festival a success. Public Sector Funders Higher Education Partner Bookshop Partner Hotel Partners Festival Friends
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