MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
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Review: Elif Shafak and Nadeem Aslam
November 16, 2017
Maryam Hessavi is inspired by our event with novelists Elif Shafak and Nadeem Aslam “Where to begin” – was the place at which Erica Wagner initiated the event, setting up the primary concerns and philosophical line of conversation that would formulate an intellectually invigorating and moving discussion between these two powerful writers, Elif Shafak and […]
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Review: Zaffar Kunial
November 16, 2017
Chad Campbell reports from our event with poet Zaffar Kunial, reading new work commissioned in response to the art of Raqib Shaw Poet Zaffar Kunial and painter Raqib Shaw share some common ground. Both have roots in Kashmir (Kunial through his father; Shaw by birth) and England (Kunial by birth; Shaw by virtue of having […]
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Review: Imtiaz Dharker
November 16, 2017
Namra Amir is impressed by a performance of MLF-commissioned work from poet Imtiaz Dharker at Manchester Art Gallery As the Manchester Literature Festival nears the end, I thought I couldn’t be further impressed or surprised by the events. Little did I know that Imtiaz Dharker’s collaboration with Manchester Art Gallery would stun me and revolutionise the […]
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Review: The Real Story presents Know Your Place
November 10, 2017
David Hartley reviews an evening of live essays on the working class experience presented by The Real Story and Dead Ink Books The title of this event, and the book it launches, makes a clear demand of us: not to reflect on our place, not to consider it, but to know it. Taken literally, we […]
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Review: Kamila Shamsie
November 10, 2017
MLF Blogger Abi Hynes enjoys a spirited conversation between authors Kamila Shamsie and Jeanette Winterson at this year’s Festival Kamila Shamsie’s latest novel, Home Fire, is a contemporary take on Sophocles’ Antigone, which takes the guts of the story – the choice between state and family; the lengths we might go to for love and […]
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Review: Rebecca Solnit
November 10, 2017
Young Digital Reporter Jess Molyneux enjoys an evening with Rebecca Solnit and Jeanette Winterson What better note to start on, to combat any jitters we might have had on a wintry Halloween evening, than that Manchester had very recently been pronounced a UNESCO City of Literature. Glowing with pride in that home town of ours […]
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Review: Simon Schama
November 10, 2017
Young Digital Reporter Matthew Singleton reports on our event with Simon Schama It was a packed and perhaps surprisingly loud auditorium prior to the talk, considering the focus of the on-stage conversation would be on an 800 page, 5-decade-spanning tome. But that is the appeal of Simon Schama, a man known for his engaging histories […]
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Review: Roddy Doyle
November 10, 2017
Young Digital Reporter Elizabeth Gibson reviews our event with Irish novelist Roddy Doyle As I prepare to see Roddy Doyle at Manchester Literature Festival, I muse on the last time I encountered him: a couple of years ago, in an event based around his gentle, humorous Barrytown series. I am aware that tonight will probably […]
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Review: Joanna Moorhead on Leonora Carrington
November 3, 2017
Young Digital Reporter Maygen Senior reviews our event with author Joanna Moorhead On Tuesday night, I entered the hidden treasure of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester. The room was full of people chatting to friends, an electric buzz of conversation, and the bare walls of brick and red seats evoked an atmosphere of […]
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Review: Dorthe Nors
November 3, 2017
Our reviewer Phil Olsen enjoys a captivating talk about writing, translation and stories that ‘take place in a breath’ with Danish author Dorthe Nors. The opening Saturday of this year’s festival was a good day for fans of short stories. It was also a good day for fans of holing up in the International Anthony […]