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From local writing to international talent, we have heaps of online launches and in real life readings not to mention some extra special festival events coming our way in live literature land.
Blackwell’s bookshop has a packed programme as we head springwards, including in person poets from Manchester’s Carcanet Press – also serving up screen time with a number of online launches, from Joe Carrick-Varty with More Sky to Charlotte Eichler and Swimming Between Islands.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is also heading online with more from its Mary Barton season of talks and keep an eye out for on- and offline events marking International Mother Language Day, officially on 21 February, but with Manchester-based activities both before and after the date itself. Celebrating LGBT History Month in the Rainy City, there’s a literary salon special at the newly refurbished Portico Library and Outspoken takes to the stage again for Queer Contact.
On to the regulars… Speak Easy’s bumper open mic is at Dulcimer in Chorlton every first Thursday of the month and Crooked Poets in Prestwich is now going strong, with Anna Percy lined up for 7 February and Dominic Berry lined up for 7 March. Dominic crops up again at Word Central – found in Central Library’s events space on Tuesday 23 February – and at Verbose in March. Taking place at the King’s Arms in Salford on the last Monday every month, the next Verbose is Fabulous Fiction February and features Tania Hershman and Gaynor Jones. The next Crime Central takes place 16 February, and don’t forget to check out Poets & Players at the Burgess Foundation on 25 February and The Other every two months at the Old Monkey (back on 9 March). Peter Barlow’s Cigarette is celebrating ten years in 2023 and other servings of avant-garde goodness include a one-off from indie press If P Then Q on 9 March at Peste, bringing Maggie O’Sullivan and Peter Jaeger to town.
Bolton sees Natter Bolton hosted by Romina Ramos and Stuart Beveridge return to the last or nearly last Tuesday of each month while the University of Bolton’s Creative Writing department has a new spring programme worth a look-see, as does the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing. Manchester Literature Festival has some spring events in the pipeline, and both Litfest in Lancaster and Huddersfield Literature Festival are crunching up the gears – watch this space for more on all the upcoming literary showcases…
In Liverpool, don’t forget to look up the regulars like A Lovely Word, Blast!, dead good poets society, Give Poetry A Chance, Liver Bards, Speakeasy and The Reader’s Spoken Word night at the Mansion House and/or their new town venue The Reader Bar & Restaurant and its weekly Poetry Walk in south Liverpool’s Calderstones Park. Across the water, there’s Limoncello and The River Poets, both Birkenhead, and in Chester, Testify is back. The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is also stopping by on his library tour, visiting Gladstone’s Library and also Ellesmere Port Civic Centre Library in March.
Over the Pennines, keep an eye out for Resonance and Nine Lives Poetry in Sheffield (and, en route, Glossop Bookfest’s monthly open mic); in Huddersfield, try Ink Spill at The Grove and monthly Attic Stories at Lawrence Batley Theatre, hosted by Rose Condo; in Farsley, Tubthumping is hosted by Matt Abbott and Maria Ferguson at The Constitutional, and, in Headingley, Soundbites takes place at the Enterprise & Arts Centre. Leeds sees Chemistry enjoy a Leeds Lit Fest special in March, and The Leeds Library’s Chelping will be back with a fresh helping in 2023. At Leeds Central Library, meanwhile, Gwendoline Riley is in conversation about her latest novel, My Phantoms, Lemn Sissay is at Carriageworks Theatre, Ian Duhig takes over Nowt But Verse and the Radical Reading Book Group rocks up at Left Bank.
For borrowing and browsing books, check out the Manchester Poetry Library, recently marking its first birthday, plus Deansgate’s John Rylands Library, the Portico Library, Chetham’s Library, and the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. If it’s book purchases you’re after, check out new bookseller on the block House of Books & Friends on King Street and save the date for the next Northern Publishers’ Fair, flick through our Bookshops in Manchester Guide and visit Elizabeth Gaskell’s House for the monthly book sale. If you’re venturing further afield from Manchester – celebrating five years as a UNESCO city of Literature – see our literary guides to Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Cumbria, and don’t forget to scroll down for more events and activities in the land of Literature.
Here are our picks
More Sky by Joe Carrick-Varty: Carcanet Book Launch , online, Until 8 February 2023, from £2.00 - Book now
Join Eric Gregory Award winner Joe Carrick-Varty online on 8 February as he launches his debut poetry collection More Sky and chats to fellow writer and magazine editor Anthony Anaxagorou about poetry, prizes and the power of words.
LGBTQ+ History Month Literary Salon at The Portico Library, Chinatown and online, 11 February 2023, from £3.00 - Book now
To celebrate LGBT History Month, join Abbi Parcell and Ruby Seddon-Wilson at the newly renovated Portico Library on 11 February to discuss some of their favourite histories and texts that have inspired and empowered LGBTQ+ people over the years.
Crime Central at Manchester Central Library, Manchester, 16 February 2023, from £2.00 - Book now
There’s murder and mayhem in the library as Manchester Libraries’ monthly event Crime Central welcomes new guests every month at Central Library – hosted by Rob Parker, on 16 February, he welcomes the crime authors Lia Middleton, Elliot Sweeney and Sam Tobin.
International Mother Language Day at Manchester Central Library, Manchester, 21 February–31 March 2023, free entry - Find Out More
Championing language diversity and its connection to cultural and traditional heritage, International Mother Language Day is celebrated around the world annually on 21 February, and, in our very own UNESCO Manchester City of Literature, events will be taking place beforehand with some running until the end of March.
Swimming Between Islands by Charlotte Eichler: Online Book Launch , online, 22 February 2023, from £2.00 - Book now
Charlotte Eichler launches her debut collection, Swimming Between Islands, with an online event on 22 February hosted by Manchester-based Carcanet Press and fellow poet Rebecca Goss.
Poets & Players at International Anthony Burgess Foundation (IABF), Manchester, 25–24 February 2023, free entry - Find Out More
Poets & Players has a new home as 2023 unfolds, bringing its fabulous free afternoons of words and music townwards to the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, and, on Saturday 25 February, welcoming poets Clare Pollard, Wayne Holloway-Smith and Jake Morris-Campbell.
In Conversation with Catriona Ward at Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds, 25 February 2023, from £8 - Book now
As part of Leeds Lit Fest 2023, running from 25 February to 5 March, internationally bestselling author Catriona Ward talks to Dan Coxon about being the only woman to have won the British Fantasy Awards’ August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel three times.
Nowt But Verse at The Leeds Library, Leeds, 3 March 2023, free entry - Find Out More
Poet, editor, and curator of literary events Hannah Stone talks to Ian Duhig in this special Leeds Lit Fest edition of Nowt But Verse on 3 March.
Lemn Sissay – My Name Is Why at Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds, 3 March 2023, from £22.00 - Book now
As part of Leeds Lit Fest 2023, poet, playwright, memoirist, performer and broadcaster (and until recently the Chancellor of the University of Manchester) Lemn Sissay OBE presents his life story My Name Is Why, at Carriageworks Theatre on 3 March.
In Conversation with Gwendoline Riley at Leeds Central Library, Leeds, 16 March 2023, free entry - Find Out More
Prize-winning author Gwendoline Riley is on our list of favourites, with the likes of early novels Cold Water and Sick Notes featuring Manchester as a backdrop, and at this event in Leeds this March she’s talking about highly acclaimed and toe-curlingly tense tome My Phantoms.
Northern Publishers' Fair at Manchester Central Library, Manchester, 29 April 2023, free entry - Find Out More
Various independent publishing houses will be setting out their stalls at Manchester Central Library on 19 April 2023 for the latest Northern Publishers’ Fair, organised by Manchester’s own Fly On The Wall Press.
Mary Barton Season, online, Until 13 December 2023, from £5.00 - Book now
The team at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House on Plymouth Grove has already celebrated the author’s famous novels Cranford and North And South, and in 2023 it’s the turn of Mary Barton: A Tale Of Manchester Life. The special season of events and online talks runs throughout the year.
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