Festival Of Libraries 2022 at various venues

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

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Festival of Libraries 2022

15-19 June 2022

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

Lemn Sissay. Photo by Hamish Brown
Poet and Festival Of Libraries Ambassador Lemn Sissay. Photo by Hamish Brown.
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Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival Of Libraries is back with a programme of 80 events for all running from Wednesday 15 to Sunday 19 June.

This is the second year for the county-wide celebration of Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries, and once again features a varied and vibrant programme that highlights the library network’s offer for people from all backgrounds and demographics, with events taking in wellbeing, activism, culture and creativity, digital and information, and reading, and showcasing digital art commissions, writer residencies, dance, performance, panel talks and walking tours.

Festival Ambassador and BAFTA-nominated, international prize-winning writer Lemn Sissay OBE appears at Manchester Central Library leading the Inspired By Libraries events.

The events take place across Greater Manchester’s rich tapestry of heritage libraries, including Central Library – the busiest public library in the country – and internationally renowned institutions like Chetham’s, The Portico and John Rylands, as well as the equally important and vital local libraries that deliver much needed support and services to their communities. There are also tours of the book collections of Manchester University and Bolton NHS Libraries, not normally open to the public, with highlights including the only entire hospital based copy of the human printed genome.

There are plenty of free family activities and a showcase author event on 18 June in Manchester city centre with Sir Lenny Henry and his book The Boy With Wings, as well as much for adults, including writing for wellbeing workshops, shared reading experiences and author evenings across the region’s libraries. King of Manc Noir David Nolan is at Bredbury Library on 15 June (7-8pm) while crime writer Chris Simms graces Marple Library with his presence on 16 June (7-8pm), and there’s more crime at The Portico, hosting the first Palmer Crime Writing Lecture on 15 June (6.30pm) as part of the festival.

Festival Ambassador and BAFTA-nominated, international prize-winning writer Lemn Sissay OBE appears at Manchester Central Library leading the Inspired By Libraries events, which will hear from a number of famous faces on how libraries have had an lasting positive effect on their lives, including historian Greg Jenner (Horrible Histories; You’re Dead to Me) at Urmston, Salford-born BBC Radio Manchester DJ Mike Sweeney in Eccles, The Repair Shop‘s Jay Blades, who famously learnt to read at the age of 51, at Bolton Le Mans Crescent, and actress and activist Julie Hesmondhalgh.

Former Scottish Makar Jackie Kay CBE will be chatting to visual artist Abigail Reynolds (her Elliptical Reading project is part of the British Art Show 9) at Manchester Poetry Library, on the Manchester Metropolitan University campus, which is hosting the free Love To Read strand. Open to all, it features, on 15 June (7-8pm, online), poet Andrew McMillan, presenting 100 Queer Poems, a new anthology which he curated alongside Mary Jean Chan, and award-winning author Lara Williams, reading from and chatting about her new novel The Odyssey on 16 June (2-3pm, Manchester Poetry Library). Throughout the Festival Of Libraries, there will be 20-minute introductory tours of Manchester Poetry Library and the chance to join up, as well as a discussion about the future of poetry libraries.

On 18 June (1-3.30pm), poet and Burgess Fellow Will Harris will be running a creative writing workshop in the book-lined and wood-panelled Chief Librarian’s Office at Central Library – his debut poetry book RENDANG was published by Granta and was a Poetry Book Society Choice and won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.

Where to go near Festival Of Libraries 2022 at various venues

Penistone Hill Country Park
Bradford
Park
Penistone Hill Country Park

As part of Bradford 2025’s UK City of Culture programme, Penistone Hill plays host to outdoor events that celebrate the enduring connection between landscape, identity and creativity.

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds. Exhibitions are open for all to view. Encounter sculpture on your daily walk, or way to work or school.
Leeds
Event venue
Threshold Leeds

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds.

The Engine Room Notice Board
Southport
Event venue
The Engine Room

The Engine Room is a creative community hub in Southport’s Wayfarers Arcade, offering co-working space, cultural events and collaborative opportunities for artists, freelancers and educators.

Leeds
Gallery
The Mill Gallery

The Mill Gallery is an artist-run space in Leeds, supporting emerging artists to develop and showcase their work authentically.

Church congregation at St George's Church in Leeds
Leeds
Place of worship
St George’s Church

St George’s is a lively city centre church in Leeds with three services every Sunday and a midweek programme that includes groups, courses and events. We’re here to help people

Picante
Liverpool
Restaurant
Picante

Picante is a sun-soaked Mexican restaurant at the trailblazing Cains Brewery Village in Liverpool.

Miru Mill
Manchester
Event venue
Miru Mill

Miru Mill is an event space and micro-factory based at Churchgate Mill in Stockport.

Spa
iglu sauna

An authentic and affordable sauna and cold plunge experience in Hebden Bridge, in a beautiful outdoor setting amongst the trees.

What's on: Literature

Roy Macfarlane
LiteratureManchester
Roy Macfarlane at Manchester Poetry Library

As part of the Poetry Reading Series at Manchester Poetry Library, Canal Laureate Roy Macfarlane will be in conversation with the series curator and award-winning poet Helen Mort.

Free entry
Luke Samuel Yates
LiteratureLeeds
Chemistry at The Chemic

Leeds live literature regular Chemistry offers an exciting mix of open mic acts and invited poets – this month the headliners are Helen Ivory and Luke Samuel Yates.

Free entry
An image of Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a black middle-aged woman with long hair in a red top, looking directly at the camera with a warm expression. Look for a book
Until
FamiliesManchester
Look for a Book

Kick off Festival of Libraries 2025 with out-of-this-world book searching across Manchester.

Free entry
Tom Branfoot. Photo Eleanor Hall, Museum of the Home
LiteratureWest Yorkshire
Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller is a now regular night with invited readers, organised by Carcanet-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson in the Coiners’ Room in the Mytholmroyd pub.

Free entry

Culture Guides

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

There's a lot of experimentation going on in our Literature guide, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Three men sit next to each other. One's head is bandaged, one holds a torch and one wears a sleepmask.
Cinema in the North

Live scores, midnight movies and the latest from Wes Anderson are just some of our upcoming film highlights.

Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss if you're not careful.

Experience a unique deep listening art installation inviting audiences to lay down and be bathed in sound and light.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.