MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
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Review: Faber New Poets
October 16, 2018
Centre for New Writing student Suzi Clark enjoys three poets rallying against the system. The International Anthony Burgess foundation saw a great turn out for the Faber New Poets event: a stunning book launch for the work of new voices in poetry, celebrated as part of the Manchester Literature Festival. Unfortunately, only three of the […]
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Review: 24 Stories
October 16, 2018
Centre for New Writing student David Adamson finds hope in stories for Grenfell. When catastrophes such as the Grenfell Tower fire happen, in the aftermath news reports tend to describe them as ‘an unspeakable tragedy’. While that adjective is fitting in regards to the trauma of the affected and the difficulty in describing such horror, […]
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Review: In Search of Mary Shelley
October 14, 2018
Ben Haynes spends a fascinating evening listening to Fiona Sampson talk about Mary Shelley. Fiona Sampson is perhaps the person most qualified to talk about the mother of Gothic Horror and Science Fiction, Mary Shelley. Both share quite the talent with writing, with Fiona having written biographies which have been translated into 30 different languages. […]
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Review: An Afternoon with Lauren Child
October 12, 2018
Charlotte Stevenson is inspired by An Afternoon with Lauren Child. ‘The more you look at things, the more extraordinary they become. An image really can change the world’. These are the words that have reverberated with me the most from the Manchester Literature Festival afternoon with current Children’s Laureate, Lauren Child. To celebrate the recent […]
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Review: Pat Barker in conversation
October 12, 2018
Aisha Sodawala enjoys Pat Barker discussing her latest novel The Silence of the Girls. Kamila Shamsie was in conversation with Pat Barker in this event where Pat talked about her enthralling retelling of Homer’s The Iliad from the perspective of Briseis. On Pat’s first reading of The Iliad she not only saw these mighty violent […]
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‘She could have been Donald Trump’s press officer.’ A Celebration of Muriel Spark, with Jackie Kay and Alan Taylor Review
October 11, 2018
Centre for New Writing student Adam Wolstenholme reviews one of our Literary Reputations events. The Scottish writer Jackie Kay is third modern Makar, the Scottish poet laureate, whose work is known for its humour and exuberance. Who better to celebrate that other grand dame of Scottish letters, Muriel Spark? Kay was joined on stage at […]
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‘Just a little language spoken down there in the mountains of Switzerland’: Arno Camenisch & Nicolai Houm Review
October 11, 2018
Centre for New Writing student, Thomas Lee, reviews one of the first events of the 2018 Festival. In the redbrick engine house at the Anthony Burgess Foundation we find Norway’s ‘Most American Author’ and one of Switzerland’s most widely translated novelists. They are both mountain men: they ski, they snowboard, they go to the mountains […]
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‘We are more than our trauma.’ Jesmyn Ward in Conversation
May 1, 2018
It’s been quite a week for Mississippi author Jesmyn Ward. When she arrives in Manchester for her MLF event, she’s already made several appearances in London, Bristol and Paris. Her latest novel Sing, Unburied, Sing has also made the shortlist for The Women’s Prize for Fiction. Host Anita Sethi introduces Jesmyn by detailing some […]
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‘Between bestiality and boredom’: Brett Anderson In Conversation
March 30, 2018
The Dancehouse is packed with over 400 fans. We’re here to see Brett Anderson, lead singer of Suede, talk about his memoir Coal Black Mornings. He’s interviewed by Adelle Stripe, author of Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, who’s also a huge fan of the band and Brett. Adelle begins by asking him about […]
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Review: ‘I was called to this work.’ Patrisse Khan-Cullors
March 22, 2018
Manchester Central Library is packed on a cold, March evening with one of the most varied audiences I’ve been part of at a literary event. We’re here to listen to Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and co-author of the book When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. She’s […]