The Manchester Literary Tour
Johnny James, Managing Editor
On the eve of Elizabeth Gaskell’s birthday, join Jonathan Schofield Tours for a stroll around the sites (and sights) of Manchester’s literary past.
Manchester has a rich heritage when it comes to the written word. The city’s industrial past, strong cultural identity and appetite for social change have all played their part in shaping the output of everyone from Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens to Howard Jacobson, Joseph Knox and Carol Ann Duffy – all of whom are present on this tour.
But it’s not just about novelists and poets. Many influential artists, actors, politicians and musicians have caught a spark in Manchester. Among those who have resided here are Anthony Burgess, Friedrich Engels, Christabel Pankhurst, Frederick Douglass and Ewan McColl – and there’s a story to be told about each of them on this tour of wordy wonderment.
Your tour will start at one of Manchester oldest churches, St Ann’s – an interesting part of the larger literary legacy of Manchester. It will finish at the much younger cultural asset of HOME. For your enjoyment, the many places you’ll visit in between will remain a secret until the day.
What you can be sure of is that your knowledgeable and experienced tour guide will bring entertainment, information and stories that help you get to know Manchester-born and Manchester-adopted writers in the context of the places that helped shape their work. And being a literary tour, you can expect plenty of well-known – and less well known – quotes, too.
