MLF Chapter & Verse
The Manchester Literature Festival Blog
-
Review: An Evening with Zadie Smith
December 9, 2016
Our Young Digital Reporter Laura Cooper reports from a wonderful evening of literature and conversation with Zadie Smith Having already appeared at events in Cambridge and London, Zadie Smith paid a visit to Manchester Central Library on 24th November for a conversation with Katie Popperwell to bookend the 2016 Manchester Literature Festival. She was here to […]
-
Young Digital Reporter Review: Comic Art Masterclass with Kev F Sutherland
November 7, 2016
‘Most characters are just a bunch of simple lines and shapes. Don’t be afraid of keeping it simple.’: Young Digital Reporter Abbie Phillips has a go at creating her own superhero at the Festival. On Saturday 21 October, sixteen budding artists assembled at Manchester Central Library for a masterclass in comic book art. The class was taught […]
-
Review: Margaret Drabble
November 2, 2016
‘Everyone survives old age differently.” Our blogger Rebecca Audra Smith is delighted by Margaret Drabble’s writing and empathetic spirit. You must read Margaret Drabble. So concluded my Granma in response to my whine of ‘I’ve run out of books to read.’ A week later I’ve finished The Millstone and am telling everyone: you must read Margaret Drabble. […]
-
Young Digital Reporter Review: Reader, I Married Him
November 2, 2016
MLF’s Young Digital Reporter Bryony Makin reports from Central Library, where enjoyed a night with Tracy Chevalier and Nadifa Mohamed. Reader, I arrived late. Very late in fact. After being stuck in a gridlock below Deansgate I trudged through the downpour to arrive halfway through the event. In a convenient coincidence worthy of the novel itself […]
-
Review: Reader, I Married Him
October 31, 2016
Festival blogger Abi Hynes headed to Central Library to hear award-winning authors Nadifa Mohamed and Tracy Chevalier reading their stories to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth. As it turns out, I have some very strong opinions about Jane Eyre. It’s one of those books that I have reread so often since childhood that […]
-
Review: Sungju Lee
October 21, 2016
Festival blogger Amy McCauley headed to Central Library to hear Sungju Lee read and discuss his memoir, co-written by author and journalist Susan Elizabeth McClellan, Every Falling Star. What do we imagine when we think of North Korea? Perhaps a chubby cartoon of Kim Jong-Un astride a nuclear missile; or a ‘Team America’ style caricature of Kim Jong-Il […]
-
Review: Lionel Shriver
October 21, 2016
Our blogger Eli Regan reports from Central Library, where Lionel Shriver, author of a dozen previous books including We Need to Talk About Kevin, discussed new novel The Mandibles with Sarfraz Manzoor. What happens when society and Western privilege collapse? Should we be sad at a future prospect of a mainly Spanish-speaking American president? Will art in […]
-
Review: Jonathan Safran Foer
October 21, 2016
‘I have two identities, one as a writer who makes mistakes and one as an editor who goes in afterwards to tidy up and hunt out the typos.’: Our blogger Phil Olsen was illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer who read from his new novel Here I Am, and discussed his writing and life with Jeanette Winterson. Pausing […]
-
Review: Rose Tremain
October 17, 2016
Our blogger Sarah Jasmon reports from Central Library, where the bestselling author of 14 novels and beloved storyteller Rose Tremain was in conversation with writer and critic Alex Clark. “The difference between Rose Tremain and everyone else is that she sees a picture in a museum and builds a whole novel from it. We just […]
-
Q&A: Sungju Lee
October 11, 2016
Sungju Lee‘s memoir, Every Falling Star, introduces young adult readers to his native North Korea, a place where personal freedom and self-expression are sharply limited. Before his event at this year’s Festival, we spoke with the author about how his life experiences became an encouraging story for young people around the world. How did you […]