MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
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Review: Tales from The Towpath (Part 2)
October 27, 2014
Sarah Jasmon reports back from the Tales from the Towpath project’s performances and second immersive writing workshop How many different ways can you think of to present a narrative? Books, film, radio? Yes, yes, yes. But what about unconventional print formats, or a powerpoint installation projected onto a pentagon of huge mirrors made from foil? […]
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Review: Tara Bergin & Caoilinn Hughes
October 21, 2014
Young Digital Reporter James Varney reviews our lunchtime event with debut Irish poets Tara Bergin and Caoilinn Hughes… At Manchester Central Library, I arrive to hear Tara Bergin and Caoilinn Hughes knowing of them only that they are Irish poets, who will be reading from their debut poetry collections, published by Carcanet. There is both […]
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Review: Anna Whitwham and Colin Barrett
October 21, 2014
Festival Blogger Benjamin Judge enjoys a lunchtime event with debut authors Anna Whitwham and Colin Barrett… Central Library is looking good after its facelift. The room we are in is spacious and light, we can see the city through the windows, there is a metal door in one of the walls that looks like something […]
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Review: Story Time with Maisy and Dad, Family Reading Day
October 21, 2014
Hello, I’m Emily, and I’m twenty months old. Hello, I’m Benjamin. I’m a bit older. I’m Emily’s dad. Daddy is writing my bits because I do my writing with felt pens and mostly it is a bit too squibbly for reading. I am writing my own bits too. My favourite pen is orange pen. I […]
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Review: Jackie Kay and Adam Fairhall’s The Imaginary Delta
October 20, 2014
Festival Blogger Sarah Butler struggles to get into an unusual event that combines jazz and poetry, but finds that things warm up by the end… I’m going to start with a caveat: whilst I grew up listening to jazz, I don’t really have the vocabulary to talk about it with much authority, so apologies up […]
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Review: The Gaeia Manchester Sermon with Audrey Niffenegger
October 20, 2014
Festival Blogger Fran Slater gets religion after hearing author Audrey Niffenegger’s Manchester Sermon… The Manchester Sermon has now become a kind of centrepiece to the Manchester Literature Festival, so it’s inevitable that each one will draw comparisons to its predecessors. After Lionel Shriver’s ‘anti-sermon’ last year, we faced a more gentle approach from Audrey Niffenegger, […]
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Review: The Writing Squad
October 20, 2014
Festival Blogger Kate Ashley enjoys a lunch hour spent with two ambitious young writers… Since 2001, The Writing Squad has been offering young writers a two-year development programme to launch careers in fiction, poetry and spoken word. Students continue to benefit from professional advice, opportunities and support long after they have ‘graduated’. As part of […]
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Review: Gaskell’s Manchester Walking Tour
October 20, 2014
Festival blogger Abi Hynes takes to the city streets for a crash course in Mrs. Gaskell’s Manchester… Confession time: I have never been on a walking tour before. I am an Elizabeth Gaskell fan, but usually more of the – you know – sitting down kind. So you’ll have to forgive a few obvious observations […]
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Review: Sebastian Barry and Colm Tóibín
October 18, 2014
Festival Blogger J.P. Daly enjoyed a spirited conversation between two of Ireland’s greatest novelists, Sebastian Barry and Colm Tóibín… When Sebastian Barry talked of those who ‘wrote Ireland into being’ he was mainly referring to the writers of the late 19th century, naming in particular Yeats and O’Casey. This was not a remark that seemed […]
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Young Digital Reporter Review: Meg Rosoff
October 16, 2014
MLF Young Digital Reporter Emilia Mincheva tells us about author Meg Rosoff and the hat that changed her life… The theatre at Z-Arts was filled with anticipation last Monday afternoon as dozens of children aged 10-14 expecting to see one of the country’s most powerful and engaging Young Adult authors – Meg Rosoff. The American […]