Literature Events in Manchester and the North

Verbose continues in its fourth-Monday-of-the-month slot at Fred’s, but with a new line-up of organisers – Adam Evans, Ava Macpherson and Zoe Turner (of Comma Press), up until now all regulars on the bill – who kick off their new residency with the theme of rebirth and headliners Clare Fisher and Reshma Ruia. The usual monthly outing for Bad Language follows on the last Wednesday at Gullivers, featuring Women’s Prize shortlistee Yvonne Battle-Felton, while bi-monthly Poets & Players is back at The Whitworth on the Saturday, with poetry from Mona Arshi, Will Harris, Maryam Hessavi and Degna Stone, plus music from ‘country and eastern’ band Paula Darwish and Serpil Kılıç, and again on 18 May with a special pre-summer break outing featuring Forward Prize-winner Kei Miller announcing the winners of the annual P&P poetry-writing competition.

May unfolds with a double bill of international poets at The Portico Library on the 2nd and 16th courtesy Carcanet Press, and continues afoot with Feminist Book Fortnight celebrated by a Boudicca Press and Bad Language co-production, presenting new anthology Disturbing The Beast: Women Of Weird Fiction at Blackwells on 8 May; the first in The Longer Read new Man Met series on 16 May featuring Alan Hollinghurst (please note Mark Haddon has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances); the opening of comic book art exhibition Kapow! at the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley on 18 May, and Simon Armitage launching his new Faber poetry collection Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic at Central Library on 29 May.

Also at Central Library is the Northern Publishers’ Fair on 25 May, organised by Fly On The Wall Poetry and featuring a whole host of indies from Carcanet (see above) to The Knives Forks and Spoons Press. Meanwhile Gorton Monastery is holding Manchester Book Fair for the first time on 28 April, and Victoria Baths’ inaugural Weekend of Words (see below) is putting on its own pop-up book market on 9 June. Our updated Guide To Bookshops In Manchester is here, so we have your book-buying antics well covered.

Finally events wise, tickets are on sale to hear from Bret Easton Ellis, in the UK with a new non-fiction book, and Matt Haig, presenting his latest memoir Notes On A Nervous Planet at the Leeds International Festival, and for Storyhouse Women Weekend running 26 to 28 April. Other festivals to pop in your now heaving diary include the second annual Altrincham Word Fest from 11 to 26 May, featuring Dave Haslam as top billing, and the first Weekend of Words at Victoria Baths, taking place 7 to 9 June, featuring our very own Literature Editor, Sarah-Clare Conlon, as Writer-in-Residence.

Before you go, scroll down to our More in Literature stories and don’t forget to check out our guide to the UNESCO City of Literature, where you’ll find some bookworm-friendly go-tos, including John Rylands Library (where Rosie Garland is Writer-in-Residence) and the oldest public library in the English-speaking world Chet’s – with events including an Iris Murdoch evening in June.

And should you fancy venturing further afield now the days are longer and more bank and school holidays beckon, then our tips for trips include must-go Literary Places in Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Cumbria.

Here are our picks