What's on

Chess Drop In

Ground Floor

Calling all budding chess players! Head to our Performance Space and meet other players at this informal and fun drop-in session. Open to all children and families. For more information, contact angela.rawcliffe@manchester.gov.uk or alessia.benedetti@manchester.gov.uk Free - drop in Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or […]

Little Movers and Shakers

Henry Watson Music Library

Meet us in our Music Library on the first floor for a fun-filled dance session! Suitable for children up to 7 years. Free – just drop in. Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes or online

Imagination Gaming

Lower Ground Floor Link

Learn to play-play to learn! Taking gaming to a different meaning. These games are designed to challenge your brain with stimulating mental challenge across all ages and abilities. Can you beat the game? Free - drop in. Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation […]

National Playday

Performance Space

Want a challenge over the summer? Join our big play day event and find out what challenges you can take on this summer. We will have an extra Lego club where we will challenge you to make your favourite reading space in Lego. Visit us at the main entrance, where we will tell you about […]

Music Days: Born and Bred

Performance Space

Join us for Music Thursday at Central Library! Doodle Dance is a workshop that combines mindful doodling techniques with movement. Create doodles and dance moves of your own in this fun and playful workshop. Designed for children of all ages for those who love to move and for those who aren’t sure. So come doodle, […]

Reimagined City 2024: Summer Art Workshop

Performance Space

Join us for a painting workshop exploring Manchester migrant culture and sharing migrant story through art! Reimagined City: Summer Art Workshop is a painting workshop exploring international influence on local culture, stories of identity, and the migrant history of Manchester. Tracing identity through art, each participant will learn to paint their own canvas and share […]

Wisdom is the Principal Thing

Wolfson Reading Room

Manchester artist, Fiona Donald, has created an installation of drawings documenting the impermanence of the changing seasons. Initially Inspired by the quote around the dome of the Wolfson Reading Room she has created four large columns and 12 smaller pillars which draw on the rhythmic cycles of time passing. Some capture the immediacy of walking […]

Vinyl Listening Group

Performance Space

Join us to listen to and discuss our favourite records and slabs of vinyl. Next listen: Person Pitch by Panda Bear. All welcome! Free -  just drop in

Soundtrack to Your Life

Chief Librarian's Office

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

Summer Silent Disco!

Performance Space

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 […]

Ear Soup – Acoustic Food for the Soul

Henry Watson Music Library

Join us in the Henry Watson Music Library for a beguiling hour of acoustic magic from three local performers. Free - drop in. Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes or online

Scrumptious!

Performance Space

All is well at Sylvie’s Scrumptious Sweet Shop, P.C. Lee can’t resist the fruit cake, Stanley the Horse loves peppermint creams, and the Talkative Twins only cause a crumb of chaos. That is until a stranger arrives, and their irresistible ice cream threatens to spoil everything! Join us for this magical show about friendship and […]