Roy Macfarlane at Manchester Poetry Library

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

Visit now

Poetry Reading Series: Roy Macfarlane in conversation with Helen Mort

29 May 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Roy Macfarlane
Manchester Translation Series
Book now

As part of the Poetry Reading Series at Manchester Poetry Library, Canal Laureate Roy Macfarlane will be in conversation with the series curator and award-winning poet Helen Mort.

Roy McFarlane is a poet and playwright, and in 2022, he was appointed National Canal Laureate. A former Birmingham Poet Laureate and Starbucks Poet in Residence, he also co-edited Celebrate Wha? Ten Black British Poets from the Midlands (Smokestack). His collections are published by Nine Arches Press: Beginning with Your Last Breath, The Healing Next Time (shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and longlisted for the Jhalak prize) and Living by Troubled Water. He has previously worked as a youth and community worker. He will be reading from his work and discussing his practice with Helen Mort.

Professor Helen Mort lives in Sheffield and joined the Department of English and Manchester Writing School as Lecturer in Creative Writing in September 2016. She has published three poetry collections, the Forward Prize-shortlisted The Illustrated Woman (2022), No Map Could Show Them (2016) and Division Street (2013) – winner of the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize, shortlisted for the Costa Prize and TS Eliot Prize – and the novel Black Car Burning (2019), all with Chatto and Windus. Her memoir A Line Above The Sky was published in 2022 and shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature.

As well as Roy MacFarlane (and, earlier, Glyn Maxwell) the Poetry Reading Series, curated by Helen Mort and funded by the Manchester Poetry Research Group, will feature readings by Isabel Galleymore (19 June) and offers the opportunity for audience members to ask questions.

Professor Mort said: ‘I’m interested in how contemporary poets engage with the more-than-human in their work, from Isabel Galleymore’s examination of “cuteness” in an era of hyper-capitalism, to Glyn Maxwell’s new poems on endangered species, to Roy Macfarlane’s experiences as canal poet laureate. How do we give voice to species and place in poetry? What are the challenges of doing so? And can poetry protect and preserve?’

Where to go near Roy Macfarlane at Manchester Poetry Library

Manchester Museum Tours at Manchester Museum
Manchester
Museum
Manchester Museum

The Manchester Museum isn’t one of the UK’s leading university museums for nothing – it has six million objects in its stores, including a full size T-Rex skeleton, and that’s just for starters.

The Manchester Museum on Oxford Road Manchester
Manchester
Gallery
The Study
at Manchester Museum

Manchester Museum opened The Study on 11 September 2015. A reworking of the entire top floor of its historic Grade II*-listed building, The Study has been reimagined as a space designed to spark wonder, curiosity and a passion for research in all of its visitors.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Kro Bar

Kro Bar, Manchester is an independent pub and music venue housed (somewhat ironically) in the former Temperance Society building.

Universally Manchester Festival 6-9 June 2024
Manchester
The University of Manchester

Celebrating its 200th year in 2024, The University of Manchester is the largest single-site university in the UK, and boasts come incredible cultural institutions, found on campus, across Manchester and…

Manchester
Shop
Want Not Waste

Want Not Waste is a student-run, not-for-profit zero waste shop operating out of Academy 1 at the University of Manchester Students’ Union.

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.

What's on: Literature

Deryn Rees-Jones. Credit Alison Dodd Photography
LiteratureLiverpool
Deryn Rees-Jones at Open Eye Gallery

For the seventh Matt Simpson Memorial Reading, hosted by Liverpool Poetry Space (LiPS), Deryn Rees-Jones will be reading from her new collection, Hôtel Amour.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Theatre this month bursts with contrasts - from bold new writing and Black History Month highlights to contemporary arts and reimagined classics.

Music in the North

From New York’s experimental underground to the most exciting sounds coming from local scenes, we're lining up a noisy autumn of gigs.

A white mattress is burning in a black rocky landscape.
Exhibitions in the North

Galleries in the North are far from spooky this October - instead you'll find tactile sculptures, plant magic and curatorial experiments.

Cinema in the North

A host of Halloween horrors, experimental shorts, plus pioneering black British cinema make our October Cinema Guide.

Poet Helen Mort.
Literature Events in the North

One to add to your TBR pile, our latest round-up is a bumper edition and features some amazing events in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and beyond...