A live music performance from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's band LYR and local Manchester artist Jospehine Oniyama, featuring a very special new single dedicated to libraries. Booking required. Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in the venue, or online
What would be your track? What's the story behind the tune? What would be your album and what would the sleeve notes say? Come along and let us hear your special track and tell us the story of what it means to you. Free - just drop in
PLEASE NOTE - THIS EVENT HAS BEEN DELAYED TO A FUTURE DATE (TO BE ANNOUNCED) Forget the weather! We'll have no summertime sadness here. You'll be walking on sunshine at our special Summer Silent Disco! You've waited far too long for the return of the famous Retro Silent Disco at Central Library! It's time to […]
The Vinyl Listening Group present The Hardest Music Quiz in the World! Prizes to be won. And maybe even mince pies! All welcome. Free - just drop in.
Poppycock, featuring Una Baines, perform their album 'Magic Mothers' (one of Louder Than War's Top 100 albums of 2024), alongside artwork by Pascal le Gras and Suzanne Smith. Band on stage at 6pm. Free - please drop in
International Women’s Day (IWD) is returning to Manchester as a celebration of women’s empowerment, equality and contributions to the city at Manchester Central Library on Saturday 8 March. Led and inspired by an already significant history of pioneering women, IWD 2025 is a chance for women across all generations and dedicated allies to come together […]
Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Libraries present this special Festival of Libraries event. Join us at Manchester Central Library for a special one-off event featuring two of the city’s most distinctive and much-loved voices — Guy Garvey, Mercury Prize–winning frontman of Elbow and presenter of BBC 6 Music’s Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, and Shaun […]
With Summer in full swing Full Volume: The Manchester Libraries Podcast returns for its spectacular sixth edition. With more features than the complimentary newspapers in the BIPC, this month’s episode sees host Alan Lynch sitting down with acclaimed Manchester children’s author Kimberly Whittam. Kimberly’s new book ‘Quiet Storm’ has just been selected to be Manchester Libraries’ […]
Singer songwriter Hannah Brine launches her debut album Blue Sky Now with a live gig at the Manchester Central Library. Inspired by the Great American Songbook, with a voice & song writing style likened to Carole King, Norah Jones and Rumer, Hannah writes & performs lush ballads & lively jazz anthems, telling tales of growth […]
This Summer, OASIS, make their highly anticipated return to their hometown and Central Library are getting ready to Roll With It. As the Gallagher brothers prepare to rock Heaton Park, right here in the city centre, Central Library will be paying tribute to the legendary Manchester band with seven days of FREE festivities in its […]
Manchester Central Library presents... The Big Oasis Quiz. This July, the big Central Library Quiz returns for a one-off “Oasis Week” special. Do you know... Your Alan McGee, from your Alan White? Your “Hindu Times”, from your ‘Heathen Chemistry’? Your Beady Eye, from your High Flying Birds? Definitely? Or, just Maybeeee? Then it's time to […]
For those in the mood for a Talk Tonight, on 15th July, expect to find esteemed Northern music journalist and frontman of the Membranes / Goldblade JOHN ROBB in-conversation about his brand new book ‘Live Forever: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Oasis’ at Manchester Central Library. Part of "Oasis Week" at Central Library, John […]
From dedicated performance spaces to stairwells, screens, nooks and domes, Central Library might directly inspire your next event or intervention. Contact us to arrange a tour.
