Literature Events in Manchester and the North

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

Our reading matter lately has included lots of festival programmes, with Manchester Literature Festival already underway and Litfest in Lancaster due to start very soon.

Visitors from around the world are in abundance in the UNESCO Manchester City of Literature, where we’re also looking forward to the continuing autumn season of Poets & Players at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and the continuing Weird As Folk exhibition and events programme at the Portico Library.

Online, there’s a host of talks about Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Wives and Daughters – along with a Halloween special all about literary vampires…

We’re also getting spooked in Liverpool at the Modern Gothic launch and we’re heading out and about to see big names Jodi Picoult in Bramhall and Tracy Chevalier in Leeds. Some of our favourite alternative reading series have some amazing line-ups: check out More Song in Bradford, Peter Barlow’s Cigarette in Manchester and Poetry at the Dusty Miller in Mytholmroyd.

And finally be sure to riffle through our Bookshops in Manchester Guide and explore our literary places in LiverpoolLeeds, Sheffield and Cumbria.

Our top picks

Manchester Literature Festival 2024

Manchester Literature Festival at Contact Theatre, Manchester, Until 20 October 2024, from £10.00 - Book now

Now in its 19th year, Manchester Literature Festival returns this autumn, running city-wide across a variety of venues from 4 to 20 October.

Andrew Michael Hurley

Wives and Daughters season at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House online

Wives and Daughters - Events Season at Elizabeth Gaskell's House, online, Until 30 November 2024, from £5.00 - Book now

The team at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House – just awarded official museum status – continues its deep dive into one of the famous 19th-century author’s texts: Wives and Daughters. Head online on 16 October for the next of these literary treats.

Elizabeth Gaskell's garden
Elizabeth Gaskell's House

Litfest Autumn Weekend at various venues and online

Litfest Autumn Weekend at The Storey Creative Industries Centre, Lancashire, 18–25 October 2024, from £3.00 - Book now

There’s lots to look forward to at this year’s Litfest Autumn Weekend, Lancaster’s literature festival running 18 to 25 October, with the fabulously accessible chance to take part either in person or virtually.

Guadalupe Nettel. Photo by Mely Ávila
Guadalupe Nettel. Photo by Mely Ávila

Modern Gothic launch at Bluecoat, Liverpool

Dead Ink Books: Modern Gothic launch with Lauren Archer & Alyssa Lloyd at Bluecoat, Liverpool, 23 October 2024, from £5.00 - Book now

The witching hour is upon us, and, just in time for Halloween, Manchester-based Fly On The Wall Press has launched a new horror anthology, Modern Gothic, with various tied-in events – including this launch in Liverpool on 23 October, organised in partnership with Dead Ink Books.

Dead Ink Books
Dead Ink Books

Poets & Players at Burgess Foundation

Poets & Players at International Anthony Burgess Foundation (IABF), Manchester, 26 October 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Manchester regular Poets & Players is a must-go for lovers of words as well as music, presenting performers both established and emerging, with the latest readers Sinéad Morrissey, Charlotte Shevchenko Knight and Tim Tim Cheng. The music on 26 October comes courtesy guitarist Becky Langan.

Sinead Morrisey. Image courtesy Poets & Players
Poet Sinéad Morrissey, courtesy Poets & Players

Writing The Female Vampire at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House online

Online Talk: Halloween – Brides of Dracula, online, 30 October 2024, from £6.00 - Book now

Head online on 30 October for a spine-tingling talk beaming out of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, where the team is inviting you to step over to the dark side (just for an hour, don’t fret!) to look at literary vampires, particularly the role of female vampires in a “blood-curdling selection of familiar classics and new favourites”.

Print of female vampire about to attack sleeping woman
Illustration of Carmilla by DH Friston, courtesy Elizabeth Gaskell's House

Weird As Folk exhibition at The Portico

Weird as Folk: Tall Tales from the North West at The Portico Library, Manchester, Until 2 November 2024, free entry - Visit now

The Portico Library’s latest exhibition, Weird As Folk, runs through to 2 November and invites you to explore and reimagine folklore via texts selected from the collection, which includes 100 books of English folklore.

Yellow poster with Weird as Folk written on it
Portico Library

Tracy Chevalier at University of Leeds

Literary Journeys with Tracy Chevalier at The University of Leeds Public Art Trail, Leeds and online, 6 November 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Bestselling author Tracy Chevalier – best known for her second novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring – is visiting Leeds on 6 November to introduce her latest book The Glass Maker, which came out in the UK in September.

Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier, image supplied by Leeds Inspired

More Song at The 1 in 12 Club Library

More Song at The 1 in 12 Club Library, Bradford, 7 November 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Bradford’s number-one live lit night with invited guests – the autumn season closes, on 7 November, by welcoming Jazmine Linklater, Nell Osborne, David Mullin and Edwina Attlee, launching her debut collection a great shaking.

Jazmine Linklater
Jazmine Linklater

Peter Barlow’s Cigarette at the Carlton Club

Peter Barlow’s Cigarette at The Carlton Club, Manchester, 9 November 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Two months is a long time in literature, but finally our favourite “afternoon of alternative poetries” is rolling around again – and there’s a real treat in store as the Peter Barlow’s Cigarette organising team have invited Maria Sledmere, Harriet Tarlo and Lucy Wilkinson along to read on 9 November.

Poet Maria Sledmere.
Poet Maria Sledmere

Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller at The Dusty Miller, 12 November 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Calder Valley reading series Poetry at the Dusty Miller is a now monthly night with invited readers, organised by Carcanet Press-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson in the Coiners’ Room in the Mytholmroyd pub – this month’s guests, on 19 November, are James Davies, Victoria Gatehouse and Rebecca Hurst.

Rebecca Hurst
Poet Rebecca Hurst. Photo courtesy Poetry at the Dusty Miller.

More literature events

Jazmine Linklater
LiteratureBradford
More Song at The 1 in 12 Club Library

At Bradford’s number-one live lit night with invited guests, the autumn season closes by welcoming Jazmine Linklater, Nell Osborne, David Mullin and Edwina Attlee.

free entry
Rebecca Hurst
LiteratureWest Yorkshire
Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller is a now regular night with invited readers, organised by Carcanet-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson in the Coiners’ Room in the Mytholmroyd pub.

free entry
Yellow poster with Weird as Folk written on it
Until
LiteratureManchester
Weird As Folk exhibition at The Portico

The Portico Library’s latest exhibition, Weird As Folk, runs through to November and invites you to explore and reimagine folklore via texts selected from the collection, which includes 100 books of English folklore.

free entry
Tracy Chevalier
LiteratureLeeds
Tracy Chevalier at University of Leeds

Bestselling author Tracy Chevalier – best known for her second novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring – is visiting Leeds to introduce her latest book The Glass Maker.

free entry
Dead Ink Books
LiteratureLiverpool
Modern Gothic launch at Bluecoat, Liverpool

The witching hour is upon us, and, just in time for Halloween, Manchester-based Fly On The Wall Press has launched a new horror anthology, Modern Gothic, with various tied-in events.

from £5.00
Poet Maria Sledmere.
LiteratureManchester
Peter Barlow’s Cigarette at the Carlton Club

For Peter Barlow’s Cigarette #46, the organising team – Tim Allen, Joey Frances and Rachel Sills – have invited Maria Sledmere, Harriet Tarlo and Lucy Wilkinson along to read.

free entry
Sinead Morrisey. Image courtesy Poets & Players
LiteratureManchester
Poets & Players at Burgess Foundation

Poets & Players is a must-go for lovers of words and music, presenting poets established and emerging, with the latest readers Sinéad Morrissey, Charlotte Shevchenko Knight and Tim Tim Cheng.

free entry
If at First Main Image
Spotlight on

Black History Month in Manchester and the North

Discover the North West's best Black History Month events, including exhibitions, theatre and dance.

Take me there

Literature Events in Manchester and the North

HOME Manchester
Manchester
Theatre
HOME Manchester

Offering a packed schedule of events and things to do, HOME Manchester is one of the city’s leading hubs for arts and culture.

Manchester
Park
Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield is steeped in history, the land having been acquired by the Platt family in 1225.

The Hepworth Wakefield
Wakefield
Gallery
The Hepworth Wakefield

Winner of the 2017 Art Fund Museum of the Year Award, The Hepworth in Wakefield is easily one of the leading cultural highlights of the North.

The MerseyMade building in Liverpool
Liverpool
Shop
MerseyMade

In the MerseyMade shop you’ll find bottled gin from the likes of Turncoat Gin, Anfield Gin, Albert Dock Gin and Three Graces Gin. Yep, Liverpool REALLY likes its gin.

Cumbria
Event venue
Penrith Old Fire Station

Main venue for Eden Arts, an artist-led organisation based in Eden in Cumbria creating projects around mass participation, local distinctiveness and digital engagement, from Picnic Cinema to The Winter Droving.

Culture Guides