Free but booking required

(13+)

The launch of Shirley May’s first book of poetry, ‘She Wrote Her Own Eulogy’. Shirley will be sharing some of the poems from her book and discussing it with the audience. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Shirley is the director of Young Identity writing collective, which primarily works with 13-25 year olds. Her own work has been published in a number of anthologies, and she has performed not only locally in the North We...

Free

Open to all

As Manchester marks the centenary of women’s suffrage, The Travelling Heritage Bureau, a powerful collective of international women artists based in the North West, are coming together to create a pop-up, interactive trail around Manchester Art Gallery. The women will lead you on a joyful journey of resistance, creativity and hope, with echoes of women’s struggles across the world to be represented, respected and to be free. Directed by Yusra Warsama, produced by Community A...

£8/£6

(14+)

Between the uncertainty and doubt of relationships under strain, to the tragedy of war and its fundamental injustices, Hafsah Aneela Bashir’s debut collection The Celox And The Clot unapologetically examines the human condition, and the conflicts that arise within us. This theatrical performance is directed by Nikki Mailer and Hafsah will be accompanied by Sufi singer and musician Sarah Yaseen.

International Anthony Burgess Foundation M1 5BY

http://www.manchesterliteraturefestiva...

£8/£6

(14+)

The Yoniverse has a mission to celebrate the diversity of the South Asian diaspora. They have a mission to bring female poets to a wider audience, and allow them free expression, space, loudness and hope. Join Afshan D’souza-Lodhi, Shagufta K Iqbal and Amani Saeed for a night of unapologetically outspoken words.

International Anthony Burgess Foundation M1 5BY

http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/the-yoniverse-38405

Free but booking advisable

(14+)

One of Iran’s leading poets, Azita Ghahreman’s work is lyrical and intimate, addressing themes of loss, exile and female desire, as well as the changing face of her country. Her latest collection, Negative of a Group Photograph, brings together three decades of poems brought to life in English by the poet Maura Dooley. At this bilingual event, Azita will read alongside Maura.

Manchester Central Library M2 5PD

http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events...

£8/£6

(14+)

MLF, Young Identity and St John’s Church, Old Trafford present an evening of live literature, poetry and music to celebrate the life, work and legacy of James Baldwin. A pioneering figure in black history and civil rights, Baldwin wrote powerful novels, essays, plays and poetry that explored and shared profound insights into race, identity, masculinity and spirituality as well as the black experience in America. A prolific writer and activist, his seminal books include Another Co...

FREE but booking advised

(12+)

Manchester Literature Festival and The Whitworth have co-commissioned poet and playwright Rommi Smith to respond to the exhibition Bodies of Colour. Spanning three hundred years to the present day, the exhibition looks at the representation of race and ethnicity in wallpaper, and includes work by Sonya Bryce, Robert Gober and Niki de Saint Phalle. Rommi will perform her new poems at a special event accompanied by pianist Dave Evans, composer, musician and band lea...

£8/£6

(12+)

Peepal Tree Press invited poets to contemplate the ‘unspoken essential’ and ‘intangible tangible’ for their Filigree anthology. We’re delighted to have three of the contributors perform at this special Manchester Literature Festival event: Victoria Adukwei Bulley (former Barbican Young Poet), Rachel Long (leader of Octavia, a poetry collective for women of colour at the Southbank Centre) and Momtaza Mehri (co-winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize an...

(14+)

Terrance Hayes (winner of the 2010 National Book Award, and a recipient of a MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’) will be performing work from his new collection, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin. Written during the first 200 days of the Trump administration, it is a 70-poem roller-coaster ride through politics, music, life and love; shot through with the vernacular energy of popular culture it shines a blistering spotlight on the dividing lines of race, gender and political oppr...

£5

(14+)

Manchester-based writer, performance-artist and producer Keisha Thompson uses mathematical and scientific references through her poetry to explore the Black British experience, masculinity and mental health all through the lens of Keisha’s relationship with her father.

Gallery FRANK OL15 8JP

http://rochdaleliteraturefestival.co.uk/whats-on/keisha-thompson-lunar/

£2.00 Children £5.00 adults Family discounts available

(All ages)

A musical and performance based celebration of Black History month –

Theme – 70 years of the Windrush. Performances by members of the community station Legacy 90.1, Hulme and Moss Side community and young people from Z-arts.

Zarts M15 5ZA

www.legacy901.com

www.z-arts.org

£10/£8 concessions

(13+)

Two men, political prisoners and unlikely friends, stagger through days of pointless, back-breaking labour, coping with vicious beatings from the guards and spending their nights remembering a life outside their current misery. They prepare for a performance of Antigone in front of the other inmates and guards – an act of defiance from people who have lost everything…

This soaring, award-winning drama draws on the stories that linger from the notorious prison o...