CD Rose book launch at House of Books & Friends

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Image of author C. D. Rose looking to the side, wearing a black coat and grey jumper, stood in front of a wall.
CD Rose

An Evening with C. D. Rose: Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea at House of Books & Friends, Manchester 13 February 2024 Tickets from £5.00 — Book now

Award-winning short story writer CD Rose will be at House of Books & Friends to launch his new short story collection, Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea. Described as “stunning”, the collection of 15 dreamlike tales came out on 23 January with Melville House Publishing. Delving into memory, illusion and language, through the book, CD Rose invites you to travel through time and space, and is said to be “perfect for the fans of David Mitchell, Julio Cortázar and Steven Barthelme”. The bookshop says the event will be “perfect for fans of short stories and ethereal, time-bending literary fiction”.

Here’s a bit on the book: “Welcome to the fictional universe of CD Rose, whose stories seem to be set in some unidentifiable but vaguely Mitteleuropean nation, and likewise have an uncanny sense of timelessness—the time could be some cobblestoned Victorian past era, or the present, or even the future. In these 15 dreamlike tales, you’ll meet a forgotten composer who enters a nostalgic dream-world while marking time in a decaying Romanian seaport; two Russian brothers, one blind and one deaf, building an intricate model town during an interminable train ride across the steppe; a journalist whose interview with an artist turns into a dizzying roundelay of memory and image. Ghosts of the past mingle with the quiddities of modernity in a bewitching stew where lost masterpieces surface with translations in an invisible language; where image and photograph become mystically entwined, and where the very nature of reality takes on a shimmering sense of possibility and illusion.”

The author of the novels The Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure and Who’s Who When Everyone Is Someone Else, CD Rose is an award-winning short-story writer. His story collection The Blind Accordionist came out in 2021. His stories have been published in the Salt anthology Best British Stories 2018 and Comma’s Parenthesis anthology, and with Gorse, The Lonely Crowd and Lighthouse magazines, among others, and he is one of the editors of the Buzzcocks-inspired anthology Love Bites (Dostoyevsky Wannabe, 2019). He’ll be discussing his work with Dr Keith Crome, interim head of of History, Politics and Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University.

CD Rose Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea
CD Rose Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea

An Evening with C. D. Rose: Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea at House of Books & Friends, Manchester 13 February 2024 Tickets from £5.00 Book now

Where to go near CD Rose book launch at House of Books & Friends

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Habas Bar & Restaurant

Habas is a modern Middle Eastern-influenced restaurant in the very centre of Manchester and the latest venture from El Gato Negro’s Simon Shaw.

City Centre
Restaurant
Jamie’s Italian Manchester

Jamie’s Italian is located in Edwin Lutyens’ soaringly elegant Midland Bank, one of the city’s treasures. The menu’s full of crowd-pleasing choices, with a huge selection of pastas, mains and bruschettas, and an appealing kids menu.The drinks range is broad and deep, with wine, beer and cocktails for all tastes and budgets.

Manchester
Restaurant
Lucky Cat

Gordon Ramsey brings his fine-dining Asian-style restaurant Lucky Cat to Manchester in April 2023.

Deansgate
Restaurant
Burger & Lobster Manchester

Burger & Lobster is a King Street restaurant in the old Ship Canal offices. With an enormous bar and food that’s high on quality but low on choice, it’s a popular choice with Manchester’s young and stylish.

Home-X
Manchester
Restaurant
Home-X

Home-X is the online spin-off of renowned Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone’s Six By Nico restaurant. This is geared around kit meals to cook at home.

Manchester
Mash Tun

Mash Tun is a craft beer and live music venue at the former Grafene site on Manchester’s King Street.

Kala Bistro
Manchester
Restaurant
Kala Bistro

Kala is the latest restaurant from acclaimed chef-restaurateur Gary Usher, who also owns Sticky Walnut and Hispi. It’s a welcome addition to the ever-growing and improving King Street food scene.

What's on: Literature

Poet Mike Garry. Photo Paul Wolfgang Webster
Until
LiteratureManchester
Word Central at Central Library

Word Central is a long-standing live literature favourite at Central Library and features open mic performers and a special guest, brought to you by Manchester Libraries and Flapjack Press.

free entry
LiteratureManchester
Crime Central at Central Library

There’s murder and mayhem in the library! Manchester Libraries’ monthly event Crime Central welcomes new guests every month at Central Library, hosted by Rob Parker.

from £2.00
Poet Zaffar Kunial.
LiteratureManchester
Poets & Players at Burgess Foundation

Poets & Players is a must-go for lovers of words and music, presenting poets established and emerging, with the latest readers Zaffar Kunial, Hannah Copley, Rachel Davies and Hilary Robinson.

free entry

Culture Guides

Good Fridaze Family Social at Freight Island
Family things to do in the North

As we edge towards spring we take a look at the best events and activities for families, from theatre to festivals, dinosaur adventures to family raves.

Poet Evan Jones
Literature Events in the North

Some of our favourite leftfield live literature regulars are back with their first events of the year – we’ve picked a weird and wonderful heap we think you’ll love.

NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting production still
Cinema in the North

Street art, LGBTQ+ History Month, and the first film festivals of the year are amongst our cinema highlights this month.

A painting of a young child being bathed in a sink of a 197s style kitchen. Around the sink are a rubber duck, a bottle of  washing up liquid, a jug, a kettle and a mug.
Exhibitions in the North

Galleries are racing to announce new exhibitions so check out our top picks, from art films and nostalgic paintings to Hockney's collages.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Feminist farce, a magical circus show and Oldham Coliseum return with a brand-new off-site show. All in our latest theatre guide.

FKA TWIGS
Music in the North

Masters of minimalism, leftfield electronica and cutting edge pop. We bring you the lot in our latest live music round up.