International Mother Language Day at Manchester Poetry Library

Manchester Poetry Library will be celebrating words written and spoken in all languages this International Mother Language Day, taking place in UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world on Friday 21 February.

International Mother Language Day, which takes place on 21st February each year, is an internationally recognised UNESCO designated day. Manchester City of Literature leads the 53 UNESCO Cities of Literature for International Mother Language Day each year, to mark the fact that around 200 languages are spoken in Manchester at any one time. IMLD celebrates the importance of Mother Languages to promote unity in diversity and international understanding through multilingualism and multiculturalism.

Manchester will celebrate the week of International Mother Language Day 2025 with a programme of 20 events across libraries, museums and language centres – check out the inauguration of the two new Multilingual City Poets, Charlotte Shevchenko Knight and Nóra Blascsók, community group Fuse Manchester’s Multilingual Open Mic at Castlefield Viaduct, a screening of Mat Lingard’s ‘Mother Tongues’ at The Portico Library, the Undertow performance at Manchester Poetry Library, Looking for Languages Trail from Creative Manchester at Manchester Museum and the Multilingual Storytimes at Insituto Cervantes and Z-arts.

From 6pm to 8pm on 21 February, Manchester Poetry Library will be hosting its third Multilingual Open Mic Poetry Session, when audience members are invited to share a poem in any language. You can choose to read your own poems or a poem written by someone else, from the well-known to the not so well-known! This year, the evening – which is entirely free – will also welcome a number of special guests to celebrate the various multilingual projects and partnerships that the Poetry Library has been involved with – watch this space for who to expect.

If you fancy a slot on the open mic, register to attend via the link provided and say which language you wish to read in. Places to read will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re not sure what to read, the Manchester Poetry Library team is inviting you to just turn up and decide on the night – you might even spot something in the extensive collection, which includes everything from modern European languages to Farsi and Bengali texts – or just stay and listen to all the various voices. Refreshments will be provided and everyone is welcome.