LGBTQ+ History Month Literary Salon at The Portico

LGBTQ+ History Month Literary Salon at The Portico Library, Chinatown and online, 11 February 2023, from £3.00 - Book now

To celebrate LGBT History Month, join Abbi Parcell and Ruby Seddon-Wilson at the newly renovated Portico Library to discuss some of their favourite histories and texts that have inspired and empowered LGBTQ+ people over the years.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, join Abbi Parcell and Ruby Seddon-Wilson at the newly renovated Portico Library to discuss some of their favourite histories and texts that have inspired and empowered LGBTQ+ people over the years.

Both Manchester based, Abbi Parcell is a writer, poet and singer, and project manager at the Portico Library, and filmmaker Ruby Seddon-Wilson is an art history student at University of Manchester on placement with the Portico and part of its In The Margins group of artists, writers, students and Manchester residents who “come together to challenge the traditionally ‘male, stale, and pale’ reputation of historic libraries”.

Selecting texts from the historic collection of over 25,000 books, Abbi and Ruby invite visitors to get involved, so why not bring along a book that has inspired you too?

A subscription library and newsroom whose archives span over 450 years, The Portico is one of Manchester’s longest-running institutions, house in an original Grade II* listed building complete with dome and “Polite Literature” section. The Portico’s first secretary Peter Mark Roget wrote the first English thesaurus while author Elizabeth Gaskell was a member of the Library and her husband William acted as its longest-serving chair.

Sitting on the edge of Chinatown, near Manchester Art Gallery, The Portico has recently been closed for renovations and will reopen on 1 February 2023, when you’ll also be able to view the current exhibition (on until 13 March) Brick By Brick: Architectures Of Potential, which looks at the history of architecture and the future of accessible, inclusive design. Find out more about Libraries in Manchester in our guide here.

LGBT History Month runs throughout February. Other events include Outspoken as part of Queer Contact.