MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
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Review: Susan Barker
October 14, 2016
Festival blogger Melissa Brakel headed to International Anthony Burgess Foundation to learn how novelist Susan Barker researched and wrote her award-winning historical novel The Incarnations. Day 2 of the Manchester Literature Festival and we find ourselves tucked away off Oxford Road on the edge of Chorlton Mill, in the Engine House of the Anthony Burgess Foundation. […]
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Young Digital Reporter Review: Margaret Atwood
October 14, 2016
Our young digital reporter Laura Cooper reports from RCNM Theatre, where acclaimed Canadian author, artistic visionary and teller of magical tales Margaret Atwood discussed her latest novel Hag-Seed, a retelling of The Tempest. Margaret Atwood is a writer defined by the eclecticism of her subject matter. Over her long career her writing has ranged from the stark dystopia of The Handmaid’s […]
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Review: Gloria Steinem
March 7, 2016
“Masculine and feminine prisons – we all have all the human qualities.” Young Digital Reporter Alex Stone is moved by our event with Gloria Steinem at Waterstones, following publication of new memoir My Life on the Road. A hush descends upon the audience as Gloria Steinem takes to the stage. There is nothing arrogant or […]
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Review: Simon Armitage
November 6, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Elizabeth Gibson is thrilled by a first encounter with one of her favourite poets. I have long been a fan of Simon Armitage: his poem “Homecoming” is one of my absolute favourites. So it was with great excitement that I sat down in the Central Library to see him for the first […]
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Review: Family Reading Day
November 6, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Rebecca Roe (and her little sisters) spent a boisterous day at the library celebrating books, reading and pirates. The Family Reading Day was a perfect day out for the whole family. I expected as much of course, Manchester Literature Festival’s events have always been wonderful, especially the ones directed to young people. The […]
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Review: Care Santos
October 22, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Elizabeth Gibson devours a delicious event with Spanish author Care Santos at Instituto Cervantes. There is something about chocolate. Its perfume, its allure… So strong is its charisma that it has enchanted many writers to weave it into their stories, such as Mexican classic Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and Joanne Harris’s […]
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Review: Adam Marek and Diao Dou
October 22, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Calla Randall learns that surrealism is a game with rules to follow – and occasionally break – at a jolly afternoon with writers Adam Marek and Diao Dou AIDS and the Black Death still exist. There are treatments for both, but no cure yet for AIDS. In one of my favourite Adam Marek stories set at […]
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Review: Man on the Moon
October 22, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Poppy Plumb gets into the proper spirit for a kid-friendly theatrical performance in which there were absolutely no aliens whatsoever Bob’s fan club… REPRESENT! Bob is just an ordinary human being, but with an incredibly important job: he is The Man on the Moon. He has to look after tourists, check they haven’t […]
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Review: Michael Rosen & Mandy Coe on Children’s Poetry
October 22, 2015
Young Digital Reporter Bryony Makin has fun at a relaxed conversation with two great champions of children ‘doing poetry for themselves, rather than having poetry done to them’. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a literary event with two less pretentious speakers. I have a suspicion that if ‘Children’s’ had been dropped from the […]
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Review: Kirmen Uribe and Jesús Carrasco
October 16, 2015
MLF Young Digital Reporter Elizabeth Gibson enjoys a memorable evening of Spanish literature As a student of Spanish and general lover of languages I was delighted to be assigned two events to blog at the wonderful Instituto Cervantes. Between them they would showcase three of the four main languages spoken in Spain: Kirmen Uribe writes […]