Poets & Players at The Whitworth

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Poet Helen Mort
Poet Helen Mort.

Poets & Players at The Whitworth, Manchester 18 March 2017 Entrance is free

The next Poets & Players, taking place in the Whitworth’s gallery overlooking the park, will feature poetry readings by Jane Draycott, Helen Mort and Andy Hickmott. There will also be live music from successful percussionist, songwriter, composer and producer Arian Sadr, who has a keen interest in Persian rhythms.

Jane Draycott’s new collection The Occupant, is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and one of its poems was awarded second place in the National Poetry Competition while another was winner of the 2014 Hippocrates International Prize for Poetry and Medicine. Her first collection was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection and in 2002 she was the winner of the Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry. Her third collection was shortlisted for the 2009 T.S. Eliot Prize, and her translation of the 14th-century Pearl is a PBS Recommendation and winner of a Stephen Spender Prize for Translation.

Sheffield-born Helen Mort’s first collection, Division Street, was shortlisted for both the Costa Prize & the T.S. Eliot Prize. In 2014, she won the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize. Her new collection No Map Could Show Them (Chatto & Windus, 2016) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. A keen runner, Helen is also the author of Lake District Trail Running. She writes a blog called Freefall and is a lecturer at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met. Poets & Players have commissioned Helen to write a poem in line with the Arts Council England initiative ‘no boundaries’.

Andy Hickmott is poet-in-residence for Ancoats Dispensary Trust, and has won prizes in the York and Wenlock poetry competitions. He has published three chapbooks, A Limited Season (erbacce-press, 2013), The Reedy Boy and in:dispensable (both Original Plus, 2015), and a 45-minute animated film version of his poet-fable The Reedy Boy, funded by the Arts Council England, was shown in Manchester in November. He was awarded a New Fiction Bursary in the 2016 Northern Writers’ Awards, and his poems have appeared in Poetry News, Orbis, The Journal, South, The Interpreter’s House and Popshot.

Poets & Players at The Whitworth, Manchester 18 March 2017 Entrance is free

What's on at The Whitworth

Until
ExhibitionsManchester
Traces of Displacement

See ‘Traces of Displacement’, the Whitworth’s major new exhibition which uses the gallery’s collection to explore the issue of forced displacement.

free entry
Until
ExhibitionsManchester
(Un)Defining Queer at The Whitworth

Through a fantastic collection of classical and contemporary artists’ work, ‘(Un)Defining Queer’ examines the use of language, histories and narratives to explore what ‘queer’ really means today. free entry

OUTDOOR ART CLUB AT THE WHITWORTH
Until
ChildrensManchester
Outdoor Art Club at The Whitworth

Enjoy fun and creative activities designed to encourage your little ones to play freely in the fresh air, while exploring nature and the outdoors with family and friends.

free entry

Where to go near Poets & Players at The Whitworth

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Big Hands

Big Hands is the one-time haunt of legendary Manchester band Elbow; it’s shabby, loud and dark, with a jukebox and excellent roof terrace.

The Giving Tree
Manchester
Restaurant
The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is a cafe and community hub based in Rusholme, a short walk from the city centre.

Pankhurst Centre
Manchester
Museum
The Pankhurst Centre

The Pankhurst Centre houses a small museum and heritage centre that remains as a legacy to the Pankhurst family and the Suffragette movement born in this city.

Whitworth Park, Manchester
Manchester
Park
Whitworth Park

This 18-acre park opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary provides a welcome patch of green in an otherwise densely populated and heavily used part of the city.

Cafe at the Museum
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
The Cafe
at the Museum

Manchester Museum’s cafe is run by the people behind award-winning cafe Teacup Kitchen. The menu features home-baked cakes, the finest loose leaf teas and breakfast, as well as a wide selection of mains and meals for kids.

Manchester
Music venue
Manchester Academy 3

Brilliant venue for catching a touring band on the rise. The boringly titled Academy 3 or more interesting Hop and Grape, as it was once known, is a self contained…

Manchester Academy music venue on Oxford Road Manchester.
Manchester
Music venue
Manchester Academy

The Manchester Academy is a mid size, modern warehouse venue adjacent to the University of Manchester Students’ Union. It lacks any architectural merit and has always been a difficult place…

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Writer Nicholas Royle. Photo by Zoe McLean
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