Reading The Other at The Metropolitan

Reading The Other at The Metropolitan, Didsbury, 14 March 2018, free entry

Last spotted as part of Didsbury Arts Festival, this literary night with a twist is definitely worth a look-in, especially if you’re trapped in the southern suburbs by snowfall (Burton Road’s cavernous Metropolitan pub even has a roaring fire). Writers of poetry, prose fiction, flash fiction, drama, non-fiction, essays, journalism and biography are paired up and swap over sets to read each other’s work, giving a new slant to voices you may have heard in other contexts. Stretching his organisational skills is host Michael Conley, author of Flarestack collection Aquarium and most recently seen performing alongside Lenni Sanders and Ian Humphreys at Bad Language special Lost City Stories as part of the BBC’s Civilisations Festival. Tonight he’ll be joined by various luminaries of Manchester’s vibrant literary community, including (at the last count), The Real Story’s Kate Feld, Speakeasy’s Dave Hartley and Steve Smythe, First Draft’s Abi Hynes and queen of flash fiction Tania Hershman.