Word Central online

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

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Word Central

11 June-24 September 2020

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

Writer Henry Normal.
Writer Henry Normal.
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Central Library may not be fully open yet (current hours are Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10am-4pm), but its regular spoken word night Word Central is alive and kicking in its new home online, with the latest special guest poet just announced for Thursday 7 October: Attila The Stockbroker.

Hosted by Tony Curry, and presented in association with Manchester Libraries and Flapjack Press (who’ve been entertaining us recently with their Evenings In; more here), you can find Word Central Open Mic Poetry and Spoken Word live streaming every other Thursday from 8pm, each time with a guest performer. The link will be posted on Flapjack Press’s website and Facebook Group Page, and Word Central’s Facebook Group and Event Pages on the day. Room open from 7.45pm.

There’s a sign-up-in-advance open mic, but you need to be quick – the three-minute slots are bookable from noon a week before via email and have been filled by 1.30pm that same day for the first couple of events (performance slots are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis and if none are left you will be offered a space on the reserve list).

You can find Word Central Open Mic Poetry and Spoken Word livestreaming every other Thursday from 8pm, each time with a guest performer […] In June, it was Henry Normal, whose most recent collection published by Flapjack Press, The Beauty Within Shadow, has just been launched.

The second Word Central Online guest poet (the first was Gordon Zola) was Shirley May, the unstoppable founder and director of Young Identity (check out their performance as part of Our City Speaks), which supports many of Manchester’s young poets. Shirley has recently performed at the Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica, Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York, the FIND Festival at Berlin’s Schaubühne and The Tate Gallery. Her debut collection, She Wrote Her Own Eulogy, came out on Wrecking Ball in 2018, and you can hear her perform her poem I Can’t Breathe on YouTube.

The guest poets since have been Pete Ramskill, Michael Wilson and Emma Decent. In June, it was Henry Normal, whose most recent collection published by Flapjack Press, The Beauty Within Shadow, has just been launched. Described by Time Out as “distinctly funny” and by The Scotsman as “The Alan Bennett of poetry”, Henry Normal is a writer and performer, TV and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. He has a special BAFTA for services to television, having co-written the multi-award-winning Mrs Merton Show and series one of The Royle Family, collaborated with Steve Coogan on shows including Alan Partridge and films, and founded Baby Cow Productions Ltd (Philomena, Gavin and Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Nighty Night and more).

The Beauty Within Shadow book cover
The Beauty Within Shadow book cover

Where to go near Word Central online

Manchester
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Kargo MKT

Mighty food hall in Salford Quays, with around twenty street food vendors, serving a huge range of cuisines.

Asap Coffee Interior/ Counter
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
ASAP Coffee

If you’re looking for quality coffee and a decadent brunch in a setting that nails the Northern Quarter brief, you’d struggle to do better than ASAP Coffee.

Interior of George St Chapel
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George Street Chapel

This beautifully restored former Independent Methodist Chapel in the heart of Oldham is as much a creative hub as a heritage landmark.

Chinatown
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Pho Cue

Family-run Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. Prepare to queue for Pho Cue.

Come to Swithens Farm for a great family day out in Leeds. Our farm has plenty to offer whatever age you are!Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around. We now have a farm shop, café, playbarn and petting farm. When we first opened we only had the usual farm animals – cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and it was free entry. We now have llamas, alpacas, meerkats, rabbits, guinea pigs, donkeys and a pony.On the working farm, we breed our own cows, pigs and sheep and we sell the meat through the farm shop and the café. If you buy a sausage sandwich from the café the sausage will be from the butcher who has made the sausage by hand using our own pork. We also produce our own free-range eggs.
Leeds
Swithens Farm

Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around.

Peak District
Restaurant
The Chequers Inn

The Chequers Inn is a 16th century, family-run, traditional country inn with an impressive dining space. The Peak District at its best.

Testbed Main Space
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Event venue
TESTBED

TESTBED is a newly renovated 10,000 sq foot event venue in Leeds that offers endless possibilities for creating unique and inspiring experiences.

Manchester
Restaurant
Salt & Pepper

Chinese inspired British food in the centre of Manchester, backed up by plenty of well-deserved local hype.

Morning Glory - Coffee Cup
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Morning Glory

Morning Glory positions itself as a grab-and-go spot, with just 12 seats inside serving coffee, bagels and sweet treats.

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

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