Ghosts at the Old Library

Ghosts at the Old Library at Levenshulme Old Library, Levenshulme, 3–17 December 2022, from £7 - Book now

Levenshulme Old Library has commissioned brand-new festive ghost stories from four writers – Marie Crook, Adam Farrer, Richard V Hirst and Melissa Wan – for a special atmospheric reading event.

Ghost stories at Christmas have long been a storytelling tradition and, for three nights only (3, 10 and 17 December), the four specially written tales will be performed live in the historic library.

Ghost stories at Christmas have long been a storytelling tradition and, for three nights only (3, 10 and 17 December), the four specially written tales will be performed live in the historic library, dimly lit by lantern light. Audiences will be led around the building, hearing each story in full before moving on to the next writer’s allocated space. The stories themselves will respond to the landmark and its heritage as well as the local area and its history.

Levenshulme Old Library is one of the famous Carnegie libraries (others nearby include Didsbury and Chorlton), funded by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to offer knowledge and opportunity to local residents. It operated as a free public library from 1904 until 2013 when the council announced they were cutting the service. After the library closed, members of the public took over the running of the space, establishing the charity Levenshulme Old Library CIO to renovate and maintain the library building, support the local community and establish meaningful artistic opportunities for people in Levenshulme via an ongoing arts programme.

The stories by Marie Crook, Adam Farrer, Richard V Hirst and Melissa Wan will be recorded by ALL FM, a community radio station based at the Old Library, and broadcast over the Christmas period. They will also be printed as limited-edition Christmas card chapbooks, with the collection of four available to pre-order for £8 when booking tickets. There’s your stocking fillers sorted…

Marie Crook is a writer based in Levenshulme. Her work has been published by creative nonfiction journal The Real Story and The Caterpillar magazine, among others, and she has performed at venues including Manchester Central Library and at the New Prose Writing showcase as part of the fringe festival at English Shared Futures earlier this year.

Adam Farrer’s Cold Fish Soup, a memoir in essays of the Yorkshire coast, won the NorthBound Book Award at the 2021 Northern Writers’ Awards and is printed by Saraband. He edits The Real Story and was the inaugural Writer in Residence for Peel Park, Salford.

Richard V Hirst is a writer and editor based in Levenshulme. He was winner of the 2011 Manchester Fiction Prize and his books include The Night Visitors., co-written with Jenn Ashworth, and another Dead Ink title Writing The Uncanny, co-edited with Dan Coxon. He also edited the Confingo anthologies We Were Strangers and Waiting For The Gift.

Melissa Wan is the author of This Must Be Earth, a chapbook published by Manchester-based Nightjar Press. Her other short fiction has been published by a number of independent presses, including by Bluemoose Books, Dead Ink Books and Confingo Publishing, in the David Bowie-inspired anthology Waiting For The Gift.