Literature Events in Manchester and the North

Many of the city’s institutions and organisers are taking the difficult decision to cancel or postpone events and festivals as a precaution in light of recent developments surrounding the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Not Quite Light has been rescheduled to tie in with the clocks going back on 24 October; Altrincham Word Festival has moved its third instalment to 20 September-4 October.

We’ll update the Literature Guide to reflect cancellations, but check out the previews nonetheless for news of books just out and books worth revisiting – whether you’re self-isolating or simply taking advantage of the chance to slow down a bit, it might be an opportunity to increase your reading repertoire and stock up your home library. Check out our Guide To Bookshops In Manchester; some will order your tomes for you. And follow local legend @SavidgeReads, who has instigated an indie bookshop pile-on so you can find out places that will deliver books to your door.

You might not be able to hear from Manchester writers Sarah Butler and Okechukwu Nzelualso in person this March, but you can still get hold of their new novels, Jack & Bet and The Private Joys Of Nnenna Maloney, respectively. Poetry more your bag? Man Met lecturer Jean Sprackland’s launch was rescheduled and then postponed for a second time, but her latest collection, These Silent Mansions, is still available to buy – same for Carol Ann Duffy’s guests Andrew McMillan and Ella Duffy, and Frances Leviston and Kirsty Logan.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, too, for links to podcasts and online publications – Manchester City of Literature’s post-Poets & Players tree-planting ceremony with poets John McAuliffe and Aisha Mirza might be off, but instead we’ll be celebrating World Poetry Day on Saturday 21 March from the comfort of our own home by listening to some of the Poetry Exchange’s Poems As Friends, chosen by you on the recent International Mother Language Day organised by the UNESCO City of Literature.

The special Poets & Players commission Altered Nature with Jane Burn, Mary Jean Chan, Isaiah Hull and David Wheatley, due to take place on 21 March, will hopefully be rescheduled, as will the annual prize-giving ceremony with judge Sinead Morrissey – keep coming back and we’ll keep you posted on new dates.

Meanwhile, a fabulous new exhibition, Carcanet, all about the independent poetry publisher, is opening this week at The John Rylands Library and runs for the next six months – and the newest library in town is just around the corner in Spinningfields. The monthly secondhand book sale at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is due on 12 April; but if it’s cancelled, it’ll be back later in the year, along with the chance to catch the Ruskin exhibition, on until July.

Don’t forget to Read More: scroll down for our More in Literature stories, information on the weekly Poetry Walk at The Reader’s recently revamped Mansion House in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park, and get more tips for trips with our literary guides to Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Cumbria.

Here are our picks