• Festival of Libraries: Lifelong Learning Summer Roadshow

    Lower Ground Floor

    Join Trafford and Stockport College Group for Summer Roadshow. Take part in hands-on, interactive workshops where you can create your own floral buttonhole and jewellery, design a personalised craft box and discover new opportunities at our Gateway to Lifelong Learning information session. Come along, try something new, and leave with a renewed passion for learning. […]

  • Festival of Libraries: MMU Manchester Skill Map

    Recurring
    Ground Floor

    Join us for an interactive activity connecting Manchester residents to skills, opportunities and each other. Discover skills you can learn, share knowledge and shape your future in this fun and engaging workshop. Find out more at https://rise.mmu.ac.uk Free – just drop in Please consider making a donation here or at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes […]

  • A Dance for my Foremothers

    Performance Space

    Get ready to move and honor the powerful women who came before us with a dance experience full of soul and stories. Dance has long brought people together and is a key part of the Baganda People of Uganda. This workshop explores how dance can challenge authoritarian rule, focusing on how Baganda dances strengthen community […]

  • Choirs Manchester – Live Performance

    Henry Watson Music Library

    Come along to the Henry Watson Music Library for some exceptional choral music from: Choirs Manchester. Choirs Manchester are a collective of choirs running in Chorlton and Withington. They are all about singing to feel good and love nothing more than performing their original arrangements of current and classic tunes. They have performed yearly at the […]

  • Festival of Libraries Sunday Funday

    Ground Floor

    Join us for a special Sunday opening as we celebrate the final day of Festival of Libraries 2026. Expect special performances, music, exhibitions, craft sessions, and lots of fun for all ages! Free entry - please drop in (face painting: £2 per child) Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at […]

  • Manchester Literature Festival presents Natalie Haynes

    Performance Space

    Bestselling author and broadcaster Natalie Haynes returns to Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her powerful new novel No Friend to This House - an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea.   Based on Euripides’ classic tragedy, No Friend to This House explores love, vengeance, power and survival, as Medea faces an impossible choice that will change the course of her and her family’s […]

  • Refugee Week Celebrations

    Lower Ground Floor

    Join us for a special day of events celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Experience a community Persian Calligraphy taster session led by Iranian artist Sareh Moradi, join storytime sessions, and much more. Programme Persian Calligraphy workshop 11am-1pm Lower Ground Floor We are hosting a community Persian Calligraphy taster […]

  • Dragon Boat Festival Celebration

    Join us for an interactive session celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with Chinese Music Classroom at Chetham’s School of Music. Learn about this traditional Chinese holiday by making your own mugwort sachet and designing your own kite during this fun and engaging workshop. Suitable for children. Free - please drop in Please make a donation […]

  • Crime Central

    Performance Space

    Crime Central is the monthly crime and thriller fiction event at Manchester Central Library. AUTHORS APPEARING IN JUNE ARE LIZZY BARBER, LIV MATTHEWS AND CHARLOTTE DUCKWORTH! Bringing the best from all over! Featuring the best and brightest crime writing talent both locally and from around the country - the big names are all coming to […]

  • Music Q&A: ‘It’s Time the Tale Were Told – A People’s History of the Smiths’

    Henry Watson Music Library

    ‘It’s Time The Tale Were Told – A People’s History of The Smiths’ is the story of one of the UK’s most influential indie bands and Manchester’s greatest musical exports. Featuring the words of over 500 fans of the band, this joyous new book has been collated by author and journalist Iain Key, plus publisher […]

  • Behind the Scenes Tour

    Entrance Hall

    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 […]