Manchester Literature Festival 2011
Aah, Manchester Literature Festival, you make the onset of this crappy weather far more bearable! Yes, it’s the time of year when you can pack your brolly in your book bag and march defiantly through the rainy city to one of MLF’s fantastic events. And with 70+ to choose from, it’s probably best you pop your diary in there too!
From 10th-23rd October, venues across the city will play host to a “a cutting-edge programme of activities that challenges the boundaries of what is traditionally understood to be a literature event and aims to promote internationalism, diversity and independence.”
Last year’s festival was a blast, with packed out events ranging from Jeanette Winterson’s Sermon to a talk about Anthony Burgess’ Manchester. But, the big guns are out for 2011, kicking off with Alan Hollinghurst and ending with Jeffrey Eugenides – sounds like fighting talk to us!
From a literary pub crawl to a debate about Prize Culture, poetry slams to quizzes, MLF 2011 has something for everyone. We’re especially looking forward to Literary Reputations: Katherine Mansfield; Writing Freedom: The Story of English PEN; the Womanswrite Sisterswives event; readings and conversation from Emma Jane Unsworth & John Niven; and Not Many Love Poems, a tribute to Linda Chase, local poet and founder of Poets & Players, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
To check out the full programme, head on over to the MLF website.
(For you twitter types, the festival hashtag is #McrLitFest)
Let us know which events you are planning to go to – maybe we’ll see you there!
Alex Herod
What do you think?