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In October 2017, Manchester joined such illustrious alumni as Milan, Barcelona and Melbourne as it became the 26th UNESCO City of Literature. Recognised as home of the great novelists Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Burgess, and the city where Friedrich Engels lived and worked alongside a visiting Karl Marx, UNESCO also highlighted the work of The Pankhurst Centre in celebrating the writings of Suffragettes Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, as well as the city’s thriving contemporary literature scene, from the Lemn Sissay inscribed streets of the Northern Quarter to the Manchester Literature Festival.
Here are our picks of some of the city’s literary landmarks. For the latest live events and literary happenings in Manchester and the North, check out our regularly updated Literature Guide.
Here are our picks
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1. John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Image courtesy of John Rylands Library. John Rylands Research Institute and Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M3 3EH - Visit now
The John Rylands Library houses a collection of rare books that spans five millennia – including an original Gutenberg Bible – in a neo-Gothic building that took nine years to build.
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2. Chetham’s Library
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3. Manchester Central Library
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons -
4. International Anthony Burgess Foundation (IABF)
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5. Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
Image courtesy of Marketing Manchester / © Joel-Chester-Fildess -
6. The Portico Library
Creative Tourist -
7. The Pankhurst Centre
By Kurt Adkins (WebHamster) (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons -
8. Working Class Movement Library
Richard Rogerson [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WX - Visit now
The Working Class Movement Library is a real gem: the personal collection of labour historians Ruth and Edmund Frow, it’s a veritable treasure trove of fascinating material dating back to the 1760s – from pamphlets containing the testimony of child millworkers to the rabble-rousing folk songs of Salfordian Ewan MacColl.
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