Viv Albertine at The Dancehouse

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

Book now

Viv Albertine in conversation with Jeanette Winterson

The Dancehouse, Manchester
14 May 2018

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

Viv Albertine at The Dancehouse
Viv Albertine.
Book now

Viv Albertine was the guitarist in the all-girl post-punk band The Slits and her acclaimed first memoir Clothes, Music, Boys, which came out in 2014, charts her role as a woman in a male-dominated music scene. It was shortlisted for the National Book Awards and she has gone on to work as a TV and film director.

This Manchester Literature Festival Spring programme event (see more here) sees the launch of her second memoir, To Throw Away Unopened, written following her divorce and the death of her mother, and exploring her feelings surrounding her roles as a daughter, sister, wife, lover and as a woman in general. From the depths of fear, loneliness and anger, the book reveals that we can rebuild ourselves and engage with the world again.

Viv will be in conversation with the prolific author, head of the Centre for New Writing and UNESCO City of Manchester fan Jeanette Winterson, and we’re told to expect an evening of unflinching honesty about music, love and life.

Where to go near Viv Albertine at The Dancehouse

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Thirsty Scholar

Friendly pub under a railway arch serving vegetarian and vegan pub food, as well as hosting regular live music.

Manchester
Music venue
YES

The apple in Now Wave’s eye, YES boasts four floors of live music and DJs, and offers food via two outlets. It also has a huge outdoor roof terrace!

Bakchich
Manchester
Restaurant
Bakchich Manchester

Bakchich does excellent, reasonably priced Lebanese food – including sharwarma, pickles, meshawi grills and baklawa – in a beautifully tiled, high-ceilinged space.

Manchester
Restaurant
Zouk

Manchester has more than one top-tier Indian restaurant, but Zouk is right up there with the best, and counts Drake as a fan.

Gorilla, Whitworth street Manchester
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Gorilla

Gorilla is a good choice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. From a hearty full English to meaty burgers via good vegan and veggie options. It also hosts some of the

Manchester
Music venue
Joshua Brooks

Long-established Manchester bar and nightclub, Joshua Brooks is just off student hotspot Oxford Road. Open until 4am on the weekends with regular DJ-led club nights.

Dog Bowl bowling alley and restaurant Manchester.
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Dog Bowl

A bar and 10-pin bowling alley combined, Dog Bowl is a neon-lit venue that serves up cocktails and Tex-Mex food to go with your time on the lanes.

The Modernist shop
Manchester
Shop
Modernist Society

The bricks and mortar The Modernist shop opened in May 2019 in the Northern Quarter and is the only bookshop in Manchester specialising in architecture and design.

What's on: Literature

LiteratureManchester
Nikita Gill at Feel Good Club

Enter the Underworld with internationally bestselling poet Nikita Gill as she discusses her “propulsive, electrifying and enraging” new book Hekate.

From £18.99
Dan Coxon.
LiteratureLiverpool
Writing The Magic launch at Dead Ink Bookshop

Writing the Magic (Essays on Crafting Fantasy Fiction) is the fourth in Liverpool-based publisher Dead Ink Books’ award-winning series of guides, and this launch event hears from editor Dan Coxon.

From £5.00
LiteratureManchester
Manchester Poets at Chorlton Library

This autumn Manchester Poets returns to its usual home of Chorlton Library, following its exile to Withington while renovations took place at the Carnegie HQ.

Free entry
LiteratureCalder Valley
Arvon’s Story House at Lumb Bank

We just celebrated former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes’s birthday in the town of his birth, now head to his former home Lumb Bank for Arvon’s Story House.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Exhibitions in the North

Galleries around the North are gearing up for a new season of exhibitions - from iconic art prizes to smaller, artist-led gems.

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Wisp Press Image
Music in the North

From corrupted shoegaze to experimental electronica, post-hardcore to Indian classical, these are the shows that should be on your radar.