What's on

Thank You Manchester Weekender

As part of the Thank You Manchester Weekender, Central Library will play host to an interactive musical extravaganza.  There will be the opportunity to try your hand at playing one of the many instruments from the library’s collection and listen to the Northern Chamber Orchestra perform.  Don't miss out on the Hip Hop archive exhibition […]

Queering the North

Performance Space

The OUTing the Past International Festival of LGBT+ History (est. Manchester in 2005) has teamed up with the Museum of Free Derry to create the first retrospective showcase of NI Queer Activism. A rare insight into the previously unacknowledged tenacious heroism of queer activism in Northern Ireland before, during and following “The Troubles”. The project […]

Dave Haslam ‘All You Need is Dynamite’ Book Launch

Performance Space

In ‘All You Need Is Dynamite: Acid, the Angry Brigade, and the End of the Sixties’ - the latest in his Art Decades series of small format books - Dave Haslam explores the fading of Sixties dreams of peace and love, and the emergence of urban terrorist groups, particularly the Angry Brigade who carried out […]

Shon Faye: The Transgender Issue

Performance Space

Writer and presenter Shon Faye will be at Manchester Central Library to discuss her new book THE TRANSGENDER ISSUE with Christine Burns MBE. About this event Blackwell's Manchester and Manchester Libraries are delighted to be hosting an evening with writer and presenter Shon Faye to celebrate the launch of her new book THE TRANSGENDER ISSUE: […]

£6.78 – £23.74

Word Central Open Mic Night

Word Central Open Mic Poetry and Spoken Word Hosted by Tony Curry Presented by Flapjack Press & Manchester Libraries Monday 27th September, 6.00pm with special guest Gus Jonsson Gus is a poet and writer who was brought up on the Isle of Wight. Now living in Littleborough, his two autobiographical volumes of poetry and prose, Vectis Voices and Vectis […]

Were You There? The Story of Manchester Free Trade Hall.

Performance Space

THE FREE TRADE HALL – THE MOST IMPORTANT POPULAR MUSIC VENUE IN GREAT BRITAIN BETWEEN 1951 AND 1996 Richard Lysons, author of 'Were You There? Popular Music At Manchester's Free Trade Hall 1951-1996' will talk to veteran Manchester music writer, Mick Middles about his widely acclaimed book. Manchester's Free Trade Hall was arguably the most […]

Living Library: This is What an Activist

We host a living library event to mark the launch of a new campaign that breaks stereotypes on what an activist looks like and showcase how generations are working together to tackle climate change. The ‘This Is What An Activist’ campaign launch coincides with the International Day of Older Persons and the living library event […]

Drag Queen Bingo

Performance Space

We’re celebrating Older People’s Day in style, with an afternoon of bingo. But this is Manchester. We do things differently here! Join the fabulous Angel Delight for a sparkling afternoon of fun, including stand up bingo, bongo bingo, singalongs and loads more. Please phone 0161 234 1932 to book your FREE tickets. Maximum of six […]

Goalkeeper: Memoir of Peter Street Book Launch

Performance Space

Spondylux Press, Manchester Poetry Library and Manchester Libraries are proud to invite you to the book launch of 'Goalkeeper' The Memoir of poet Peter Street. One 'alone, but not lonely' boy's triumph over adversity, motivated by his dream of becoming a professional footballer and a longing for truth and connection. Street's childhood memoir is a […]

Jeanette Winterson & Mark O’Connell

Performance Space

MANCHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL ‘How did we get here? Where might we go?’ Is the future ‘a screen onto which we project our fantasies and terrors’? What can the past tell us about the future? Are we all doomed? And what’s gender got to do with it? Jeanette Winterson’s latest book 12 Bytes considers our relationship with […]

£10 – £12

Monique Roffey & Ingrid Persaud

Performance Space

MANCHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL ‘Later I saw that change came as change always comes, from a chain of events with a long history, too long to see from back to front, till it come.’ In The Mermaid of Black Conch, Monique Roffey’s Costa Book of the Year winner, the life of David, one of the island’s […]

£10 – £12

Elif Shafak in Conversation

Performance Space

MANCHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL A fig tree with a tale to tell; a grieving teenage girl who wants to know her family’s story; two sets of lovers hiding from society. In her enchanting new novel, The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak considers how the story of humans and the natural world are entwined. Set in London […]

£8 – £10