Talks

‘You can change the law but you can’t change people and how they treat each other.’ American author Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad. We’re thrilled to welcome him with Manchester Literature Festival to discuss his stunning new novel The Nickel Boys. In Jim Crow era Florida, teenager Elwood Curtis is […]

Dr Nina Adamova presents 'Treasures of Manchester Central Library: two Nuremberg Chronicles (1493) and their early modern readers’. The talk will explore the most famous early-printed world chronicle – the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel (1493). The presentation will focus on how the Nuremberg Chronicle was read and perceived in Europe in the age of […]

THIS IS A LIVE SCREENING FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY Writers consider walls in literature and in our lives With David Hare and Ben Okri. Chaired by Samira Ahmed. David Hare is a playwright and film-maker. He has written over thirty plays which include Plenty, Racing Demon and Skylight. His many screenplays include The Hours, The […]

Dr Chris Paton explores some of the areas of ancestral hardship, to allow us to truly understand the situations that our forebears had to endure and overcome. An Anglo-Scottish Family History Society event.

European expat women share their experience of being a woman, an immigrant, and a business leader in creative industries. We will welcome 4 European expat women who run a creative business in Manchester to share their experience of being a woman, an immigrant, and a leader in creative industries. Our speakers will present a range […]

As a graphic designer, Malcolm Garrett’s work for bands such as Buzzcocks and Duran Duran established him as one of the most influential figures of the 80s. He was one of the first graphic designers to recognise the potential of digital media and he has been at the forefront of exploring its frontiers ever since. […]

A Photographic Journey through Hulme in the 1980's - 90's, and how I survived and thrived by Richard Davis A talk and book signing by photographer Richard Davis.... 'I arrived in Hulme in 1988, having left behind Birmingham so I could study Photography at Manchester Polytechnic. For the next five years Hulme was Home and […]

A variety of different types of prostheses were used by the Greeks and Romans to replace various missing body parts. In this talk, we shall consider the following questions: How common – or uncommon – were prostheses in classical antiquity? Who made them? How and why did they make them? Who used them? How and […]

What do George V, Gypsy Rose Lee and Bernard Bresslaw have in common? Which musician was once thrown out of the Language and Literature Library? What would you find now in the space where Patrick Stewart and Helen Mirren - amongst many others - played their first roles? All these questions - and many more […]

Xian Xinghai (1905-1945) is one of the most famous Chinese composers of the 20th century. Thanks to his hardworking nature and international education, he composed numerous music pieces ranging from mass songs to more complex music formats, such as his most notable work 'The Yellow River Cantata'. This talk aims to outline Xian’s life and […]