Tsitsi Dangarembga will be in conversation with Naomi Frisby. Being categorised as black and female does not constrain my writing. Writing assures me that I am more than merely blackness and femaleness. Writing assures me I am. This paradigm shifting essay collection weaves the personal and political in an illuminating exploration of internationally acclaimed novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga’s […]
We're back! Thursday 1st September at 6pm! Crime Central returns with three more fantastic authors. Joining our host Rob Parker this month will be the author Adam Simcox, who's novels combine murder mysteries with the supernatural. Joining him will be bestselling local author Paul Finch, who's well known for his brilliant crime and horror novels. […]
Flapjack Press, Manchester Libraries and New Poetry Society present Henry Normal in conversation with… A series of live stream poetry, chat and Q&A every Wednesday evening in September. Free but booking essential. Just click on the link to each event to register. Join poet, writer, TV and film producer Henry Normal as he chats and […]
Join Claire Mooney and special guests at Central Library for a night of music and poetry like no other. Claire Mooney is a singer songwriter with numerous albums and international airplay to her credit. Described by NME as ‘a real talent’ and Music Week as ‘a people’s songstress’ Claire mixes the political with the playful […]
You may have been living on a prayer that our super popular Silent Disco was ever going to return, but we were never gonna give you up! If you're desperate to strut your funky stuff to the best retro pop, rock and soul, Central Library is the place you wannabee. Since you've been gone, the […]
This unique collection of photographs shows aspects of life in Cheetham Hill and Salford in the 1950s and 60s. There are images of whit walks , shops, factories, schools, family snaps, products and fashions of the period. There are also photo's of the diverse migrant communities who came to live in Cheetham Hill and their […]
Photographer Ian Smith presents this exhibition with the objective of raising awareness of prostate cancer in the under-represented. It focuses on the lack of understanding of how prostate cancer affects minority groups. The message is aimed at the general public to dilute the stereotyping of ‘the under-represented section of the population – groups with cultural […]
The history of Caribbean Carnivals is much more complex than many realise. Carnival has origins based in colonialism and religious conversion, but it has now become a festival and celebration tied to freedom and emancipation from slavery. Learn about how established African-Caribbean communities transferred the traditions associated with carnival to Manchester as we explore the […]
Two award-winning stars of Irish writing join us to discuss their acclaimed novels. Jan Carson’s The Raptures is a playful, inventive whodunnit set in the small town of Ballylack. Hannah’s classmates are dying of a mystery plague to which she’s immune. As each of the dead children visit her, Hannah begins to question her religious upbringing as […]
‘I live with the dread that one day when my young muscles rebel, can take no more stillness and the brutal confinement of my very self, I will stand and strip naked and burst out of my skin.’ Without Warning and Only Sometimes is Kit de Waal’s memoir of a childhood of opposites and extremes. Raised in […]
It's 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man, especially one who has escaped slavery. So how does Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the King, write and play highly acclaimed music, become the first Black person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery? In his captivating debut novel, The Secret […]
One family, four decades, four funerals, one unfulfilled promise. Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, Damon Galgut joins us to discuss his masterpiece The Promise, a gripping, beautifully written family saga based around a farm in South Africa. Through the members of the Swart family, Damon explores personal and political change as the family splinters and […]
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.
