MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
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Review: Malika Booker
October 13, 2017
Roma Havers reports from our event with poet Malika Booker at the International Anthony Burgess Centre Despite the slightly delayed start due to unpredictable UK train services, there was an energy of excitement and good faith as the audience turned to see Malika Booker arrive. After a brief introduction from the Royal Literary Fund, who […]
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Review: Jean Sprackland
November 8, 2016
Our blogger Rebecca Hurst reports from Hope Mill Theatre, where Jean Sprackland, winner of the Costa Poetry Award, presented a new sequence of poems, Lock Songs, inspired by a boating weekend along the Peak Forest Canal. On Sunday 23 October I made my way through crowds of Manchester City supporters to Hope Mill Theatre in […]
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Review: Deborah Levy
November 2, 2016
‘Sometimes we want to un-belong as much as we want to belong’. Our blogger Sarah-Clare Conlon reports from the Manchester Art Gallery where Deborah Levy read and discussed her MLF commission in response to the Fashion & Freedom exhibition. It’s not easy to navigate a path through the downstairs gallery where the Fashion & Freedom exhibition is […]
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Review: Afternoon Tea with Jane Rogers
October 20, 2016
Festival blogger Sarah Butler headed to The Midland Hotel to hear Jane Rogers read and discuss the new short story, ‘Haunting’, commissioned as part of her residency at the hotel. What’s not to like? Listening to a new short story by writer Jane Rogers in the sumptuous setting of the Midland Hotel’s Wyvern Suite, followed by […]
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Q&A: Jean Sprackland
October 4, 2016
Jean Sprackland‘s new sequence of poems, Lock Songs, was inspired by a boating weekend along the Peak Forest Canal, from the countryside into the city of Manchester – and it was commissioned by MLF and the Canal & River Trust. Jean is the author of four acclaimed collections of poetry including Tilt (winner of the […]
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Review: Gaeia Manchester Sermon with Elif Shafak
December 7, 2015
Our blogger Jonti Dalal-Small reports from Manchester Cathedral, where Anglo-Turkish author, journalist and critic Elif Shafak delivered an unforgettable 2015 Gaeia Manchester Sermon “I don’t think writers should preach. I find it annoying.” So says Elif Shafak who, from behind a pulpit in Manchester Cathedral, has just delivered a sermon. Who is she? I am […]
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Review: Afternoon Tea With Kate Clanchy
November 6, 2015
Sarah Jasmon enjoys an afternoon story – and cake – with Midland writer in residence Kate Clanchy. Kate Clanchy is wearing a coat-dress made in a fine grey suit fabric with a collar and tie. With her cropped hair and glasses, she has the air of a Bloomsbury bluestocking, which feels just right for the Edwardian […]
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Review: Kathryn Williams
October 22, 2015
After discovering singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams at this year’s Festival, MLF Blogger Fran Slater is a fan. Here he reports on her performance of Hypoxia, an album inspired by Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, at Hallé St Peters. I’ve been attending the Manchester Literature Festival for six years now. Each year it grows, the line-up becomes […]
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Review: Ned Beauman
October 22, 2015
Festival Blogger Fran Slater is on hand for a fascinating encounter between writing and art at Manchester Art Gallery, when Ned Beauman meets Matthew Darbyshire With a beard that ZZ Top might have envied, Ned Beauman bounded up to the microphone like a cowboy bouncing up and down atop a bunking bronco. Except he didn’t. […]