Alan Hollinghurst at Central Library

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

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An Evening with Alan Hollinghurst in conversation with Andrew McMillan

17 January 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

a white older man with grey hair in a blue shirt and wearing glasses leaning against a grey brick wall..
Alan Hollinghurst. Image by Robert Taylor
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Alan Hollinghurst was missed at Manchester Literature Festival back in October, but here he is to cheer up January, chatting to poet and novelist Andrew McMillan.

This “in conversation” event was due to take place on Monday 7 October 2024 but was rescheduled due to illness. Join Alan Hollinghurst – “one of the finest writers of our age” – as he reads from and talks about Our Evenings, his first novel to be launched in seven years.

‘Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I’d lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice.’

Aa you will discover, Our Evenings is a “dark, compelling and wickedly funny” account of narrator Dave Win’s life from his time as a scholarship pupil at a local boarding school, through his early loves, his life in London and on the road with an experimental theatre company, to a late-life affair which transforms his sixties. It is described as: “A portrait of modern England, the novel is an acutely observed tale of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence.”

Alan Hollinghurst is the award-winning author of seven novels including The Swimming Pool Library, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, The Folding Star, winner of the James Tait Memorial Prize, and The Line of Beauty, winner of the Booker Prize.

This Manchester Literature Festival event is hosted by Andrew McMillan, author of poetry collections physical, playtime and pandemonium and the novel Pity, and Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Manchester Writing School. It is sponsored by The Midland Manchester. Manchester Literature Festival will return in October 2025.

Where to go near Alan Hollinghurst at Central Library

St Peters Square Manchester
City Centre
St Peter’s Square

St Peter’s Square is a public space in Manchester – home to the city’s iconic library, town hall, Pankhurst statue, art gallery and famous Midland Hotel.

Manchester Art Gallery. Photo by Andrew Brooks
City Centre
Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery

The Charles Barry-designed, Grade I-listed Manchester Art Gallery is one of the city’s leading galleries and is back open for visitors once more.

Manchester
Restaurant
Ban Di Bul

Ban Di Bul is a longstanding Korean restaurant in the very centre of Manchester.

Chinatown
Hotel
The Alan

This high-end city-centre restaurant has an excellent afternoon tea option that more than matches up to the superb main menu.

Salut Wines
Chinatown
Bar or Pub
Salut Wines

Salut wines pride themselves in offering “wider horizons beyond the safe choices.” With 42 wines by the glass and a regularly changing selection of bottles in their Enomatic wine preservation machines (or  “wine jukebox,” as they’re colloquially known), this is one of be best bars in Manchester for exploring new vintages.

Manchester
Restaurant
Friska

Latest branch of Friska, the independent healthy fast food chain.

Manchester
Restaurant
Don Giovanni

Traditional Italian restaurant, serving everything from pizza to steak. All this in a large modern venue with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

City Centre
Tourist Attraction
Manchester Town Hall

Re-opening in 2024, Manchester Town Hall is a monument to Victorian Manchester’s ambition, and one of the city’s most-loved landmarks.

City Centre
Tourist Attraction
Albert Square

A public square in the heart of Manchester which plays hosts to festivals and major events. Home to the Albert Memorial and statues of Bishop James Fraser, John Bright, Oliver Heywood and William Ewart Gladstone.

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