Library Live

Peterloo Now: Is Devolution the Way to a Healthier Democracy?
2019-07-02 17:30 - 19:00 UTC | Performance Space
In partnership with the University of Manchester and the Guardian, join our panel chaired by Guardian northern editor Helen Pidd and including Professor Andy Westwood and Lisa Nandy MP, as they discuss the devolution of government and its impact on the future of our democracy.
In 2018, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said, “Devolution is not just a series of technical changes to the machinery of government. It has had a profoundly positive effect on the culture of our city-region. It has created a new energy; a sense of possibility; a shaft of light in an otherwise gloomy political sense.”
Is it true that devolution, as Burnham suggests, has invigorated our democracy and led to a more representative and represented Manchester? Or is it a project that is merely papering over the cracks of a deeply divided Britain?
This event is part of a series called Peterloo Now. Other events in this series:

Tuesday 11 June: The roots of protest in 2019
Tuesday 18 June: The gaps in representation
Tuesday 25 June: AI and the fourth industrial revolution

Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP)TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Peterloo - Te Read, to Hear, to Feel
2019-06-29 14:00 - 15:00 | Performance Space
We will perform dramatic readings from a book called Mules Masters and Mud by local author G.J.Griffiths. Graham captures the Zeitgeist of the times and will read from a chapter covering events on the day of Peterloo. Local folk group Trebuchet will perform traditional and contemporary music and songs, marking key events of the era.
As an exhibition piece we will be displaying mill art with an interpretation . These pieces are interactive and can be handled but are a talking point for before and after the session. This is a table top display.
Free – please drop in

Peterloo 1819-2019 - A Talk by Robert Poole
2019-06-28 14:00 - 15:00 | Performance Space
A timely illustrated lecture on the Peterloo massacre of 1819, with the emphasis on new findings and on connections with the local area.
Robert Poole Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire, author of the new book Peterloo: the English Uprising, co-author of the graphic novel Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre, and consultant historian to the Peterloo 2019 programme.
Free – booking required

Our Sam, The Middleton Man
2019-06-27 17:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Our Sam follows the story of a teenager, Samantha (a secret poet), who travels around her home Town of Middleton observing and writing of the exclusion and voicelessness of the other young girls she sees. On her travels she learns of Samuel Bamford, the radical, reformer and writer who was born in Middleton in 1788. While reading Bamford’s books ‘Early Years’ and ‘Passages in the Life of a Radical’ Bamford appears to Samantha and through a series of discussions, we learn about life in Middleton 200 years ago, poverty, hunger and riots brought on by the ‘Corn Laws’ and industrialisation, the fight for representation of the Working Class in Parliament and the Peterloo Massacre. With Sam’s encouragement that ‘there’s strength in Unity lass” Samantha brings together the Towns teenagers to find a way they can represent themselves in a positive way to the adult World but Samantha, like Bamford, finds the road to reform a treacherous one.
The film screening will be followed by a Q&A
Free – booking required

Our Town Hall Project - the transformation
2019-06-27 13:00 - 2019-06-29 17:00
Timescales: next steps
Meet the Team and find out more
We’re now onto the next stage of the renovations, partial restoration and refurbishment of The Town Hall, and are inviting interested parties to see what we’ve got planned. Come and meet some of the project team and find out how we’re going to tackle this fabulous challenge, at our Meet the Team events in Central Library on:

Thursday 27 June, 1pm to 7pm
Friday 28 June, 1pm to 5pm
Saturday 29 June, 10am to 2pm

We’ll be right next to the lifts on the Lower Ground Floor. Drawings and illustrations will be on display to give a good sense of how the building itself will be improved, and how Albert Square will be revitalised at the same time: the work will make sure that the space and its facilities are updated, and fit to continue at the heart of Manchester; as a key focus for events, celebrations and times that we, as a city, feel the need to come together.
Free – please drop by

Peterloo Now: AI and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
2019-06-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Manchester Histories, in partnership with the University of Manchester and the Guardian, our panel, which includes Professor Deborah Howcroft, will be discussing the fourth industrial revolution and asking whether the rise in artificial intelligence will lead to a new wave of social unrest.
In 1819, St Peter’s Field was packed with working class Mancunians who were demanding political representation as a means of addressing the hardships they were facing in the world’s first industrial city. A few decades earlier, the same workers were caught up in Luddite riots, fearful of the role that the march of technology might have on their jobs and livelihoods.
Today, we hear that in the fourth industrial revolution, AI will irreversibly transform the world of work for the 21st century, threatening the jobs of many in the workforce. Indeed, many jobs have already been permanently altered or replaced in favour of advanced technology, and the institutions whose technology is slow to advance, such as the NHS, suffer.
What will happen to the companies that cannot afford to advance their technology? Will their workers be safeguarded against the threat of AI, or is it a ticking clock of inevitability? 200 years after the Peterloo massacre, should we be ready for mass protest as people fight for their right to a decent wage and place of work?
Running time: 90 minutes, no interval.
This event is part of a series called Peterloo Now. Other events in this series:

Tuesday 11 June: The roots of protest in 2019
Tuesday 18 June: The gaps in representation
Tuesday 2 July: Is devolution the way to a healthier democracy?

Image: Robotic farmers in agriculture spray chemical fertiliser. Photograph: Sompong Sriphet/EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

Peterloo in Sound
2019-06-22 15:30 - 18:30 | Performance Space
Sound as Being will present ‘Peterloo in Sound’ a 5.1 sound composition by Mark Pilkington inspired by a historical event that came to be known as ‘The Peterloo Massacre’, that happened in Manchester, England on the 16th August, 1819.
The sound material consists of location recordings captured from student protests held in Manchester 2010 and the rural the setting of Maccelesfield Forest, Cheshire in 2010. Historical transcriptions and archive sound recordings were gathered with the help of Prof. Robert Poole of the University of Central Lancashire, The Peoples History Museum, Manchester, The North West Sound Archive and the British Library. The text transcriptions provided a narrative framework to structure the electroacousitc sounds. The soundscape recordings were sonically transformed using a computer and spatially arranged within a 5.1 loud speaker array.
The spatial aspect of the composition considers the listeners position, reception and inclusion. Realised at NOVARS Research Centre, the University of Manches
Free – booking recommended

Make Music Day 2019
2019-06-21 10:30 - 16:30 | Performance Space
This event celebrates the diverse and inclusive nature of music making in Manchester. Showcasing the musical talent of our visitors to Central Library, and demonstrating the range of musical instruments freely available to our library members, join us throughout the day for impromptu performances.
Free – just drop in

Greenham Women Everywhere: Intimate Testimonies of the Woman Who Lived at Greenham Common Peace Camp 1981 – 2000
2019-06-20 17:30 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Rebecca Mordan, Scary Little Girls Productions and co-cordinator of the Heritage Lottery project interviewing the Women of Greenham Common peace camp, explains the work and shares anecdotes from these extraordinary campaigners. Evening finishes with a Q&A with Rebecca and local Greenham Women who have contributed to the Greenham Women Everywhere project.
A partnership project between Scary Little Girls Association and The Heroine Collective. Funded by Heritage Lottery South West. Supported by The University of The West of England in Bristol, Cornwall Council, Falmouth University, The Women’s Library at The London School of Economics, The East End Women’s Museum, Goldsmiths University of London, The Hypatia Trust, The Feminist Library, the UK Parliament Vote 100 Project and Dreadnought South West.
Images supplied by Sandie Hicks for Exeter Women for Peace
Free – booking recommended

Peterloo Now: The Gaps in Representation
2019-06-18 17:30 - 19:00 | Performance Space
In partnership with the University of Manchester and the Guardian, we will be hosting a panel, including Professor Francesca Gains, as they discuss representation in politics.
On 16 August 1819, the peaceful protestors at St Peter’s Field had gathered to call for parliamentary reform, demanding for their views and concerns to be represented in a Parliament that was run exclusively by corrupt and wealthy men. Though the protests and massacre were a pivotal moment in political history, it was a further century before universal male suffrage was achieved, and limited rights to vote for women.
Today, we are seeing more than ever the effects of a slow-moving mechanism; legislation can take years to pass, and what we are seeing 200 years on from the Peterloo massacre is a web of laws and a House of politicians that no longer represent the people of Britain. There are huge gaps in representation; politics appears to be a game for white middle-aged men in suits from an elite group of institutions, a game inaccessible to anyone from different backgrounds. Those who are, such as Diane Abbott and Jess Phillips, are subjected to violent threats to their lives and safety on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the two main parties are in the middle of separate crises: antisemitism in Labour and Islamophobia among the Conservatives.
How can we ensure that the voices in politics reflect our society? Is there a way for all to feel as though they are represented in our political system?
This event is part of a series called Peterloo Now. Other events in this series:

Tuesday 11 June: The roots of protest in 2019
Tuesday 25 June: AI and the fourth industrial revolution
Tuesday 2 July: Is devolution the way to a healthier democracy?

Photograph: Razvan Chisu/EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

Refugee Week - Welcome to Manchester Libraries!
2019-06-17 10:00 - 14:30
To celebrate Refugee Week, please join us for musical performances and shared traditions with the refugee community here in Manchester. Central Library will be offering free tours and a welcome guide to Manchester Libraries’ free services and resources, which are available to new members of our community.
Tour times: 10-11.30am; 11.45am-12.15pm; 1-2.30pm
Celebration event: 12-3pm
To book a place on one of the tours, email Siobhan on s.oconnor1@manchester.gov.uk or phone 0161 219 2534

1819 to 1981 Exhibition
2019-06-15 09:00 - 17:00 | Performance Space
Linda Brogan, Excavating The Reno, who excavated the Reno cellar club in Moss Side MCR, and Manchester Histories have joined forces to present 1819 – 1981. This one day exhibition (running on Sat 15 June, Thurs 18 July and Tues 13 Aug) will tell the stories of the memoirs of police and communities from the 1981 Moss Side riots to give voice to the long dead 1819 Hulme Hussars and the Peterloo protesters.
At the end of each day people will be invited to have discussions about the issues provoked by the exhibition, and the Peterloo story of deprivation, laws, the people’s journey to fight for their rights, the conflict, aftermath, and how it relates to today.
Free – please drop in

Tracy K Smith - Hosted by Jackie Kay
2019-06-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Performance Space
“Poetry isn’t an escape or even a luxury. I’d argue it’s a necessity, a means of living more deeply with reality.” Tracy K Smith Manchester Literature Festival are delighted to welcome Tracy K Smith to Manchester for a rare UK event. The Poet Laureate of the United States, Tracy is the author of four poetry collections including Life on Mars, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, and Wade in the Water, which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. She is also the author of the memoir, Ordinary Light, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Tracy’s work considers the lives of black women through their bodies, their desires, their adventures and their experiences. It looks at the cruelty of humanity through verbatim histories of slavery and the separation of a First Nations boy from his family. It asks questions about life, death, power and race. Vogue magazine described Tracy’s poetry as ‘an awakening itself’, while New York Magazine says she ‘Deftly illuminates America’s generational wounds’.For this special MLF event, Tracy will perform poems from Wade in the Water and her forthcoming book Eternity: Selected Poems, and discuss her extraordinary work with much loved Manchester-based poet and Scottish Makar, Jackie Kay.Doors: 6.30pm, event starts: 7pm
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‘The Violence of Empire Come Home’: Slavery, Colonialism and Peterloo
2019-06-13 17:30 - 18:30 | Performance Space
A public talk from Dr Shirin Hirsch (Manchester Metropolitan University and People’s History Museum) on the colonial context and implications of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, alongside spoken word performances of black voices past and present, responding to the themes of slavery, oppression and protest.

The First Across - Alcock and Brown Centenary
2019-06-13 14:00 - 15:30 | Seminar Suite, Floor Two
Celebrate the centenary of the first transatlantic flight with a special North West Film Archive screening of The First Across, a documentary produced in 1969 by the BBC which reconstructed the flight, and a special selection of film extracts documenting early flight in Greater Manchester.

Peterloo Film Screening
2019-06-13 13:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Join us for relaxed screenings of the Peterloo Film every month from June – August.
The Peterloo Massacre was a defining moment in British democracy which also played a significant role in the founding of The Guardian newspaper. Written and directed by Mike Leigh, Peterloo is an epic portrayal of the events surrounding the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester turned into one of the bloodiest and most notorious episodes in British history. Each month we’ll be screening Mike Leigh’s Peterloo to mark 200 years since this watershed moment.
Pay what you can – £3 / £5 / £8

Peterloo Now: The Roots of Protest in 2019
2019-06-11 17:30 - 19:00 | Performance Space
In partnership with the University of Manchester and The Guardian, we will be hosting a series of discussions to mark the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre. Join our panel of speakers, as they debate whether the root causes of the Peterloo massacre are already playing out in 2019 Britain.
When in 1819 tens of thousands of people gathered to peacefully protest for parliamentary reform, the response from the wealthy yeomanry was violent: 18 people were killed and over 600 injured. The national media worked in the pockets of the government and led to the founding of the Manchester Guardian to report the truth.
Now, we have climate change that needs addressing urgently, and a government failing to deliver or even agree on Brexit. As protests gather with increasing regularity and in swelling numbers, and as government continues to fail to discuss anything other than Brexit are the British people going to act on their feelings of under representation? Could these be the roots of a Peterloo in 2019?
This event is part of a series called Peterloo Now. Other events in this series:

Tuesday 18 June: The gaps in representation
Tuesday 25 June: AI and the fourth industrial revolution
Tuesday 2 July: Is devolution the way to a healthier democracy?

Image: The roots of protest Photograph: Johannes Spahn/EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

The Peterloo Photograph with Michael Wood and Michala Hulme
2019-06-08 14:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Clearing out his parents house after his mother’s death two years ago, Michael Wood found a box of memorabilia. There were photos, letters, postcards, and books that had belonged to his father, whose family had lived in Failsworth in Manchester from the 1720s. Among them was a photograph from 1884 showing a group of eleven Peterloo veterans from Failsworth. In 1819, young men and women, they had marched with Sam Bamford’s Middleton contingent to St Peters Fields, carrying a banner which they saved from the troops, and now proudly displayed for the camera 65 years on. This is thought to be the only surviving image of Peterloo veterans. So who were they? What were their stories? Starting with the photo Michael uncovers a fascinating tale of family history, local politics and the national story.
Join Michael as he discusses the search for Peterloo Descendants, drawing on Michala Hulme’s research into a photograph of the Failsworth Veterans of Peterloo, in which 11 men and women are pictured together.
There will be a Q&A following the event, exploring the details behind Michala’s research.
Michael Wood
For thirty years now, historian and broadcaster Michael Wood has made compelling journeys into the past, bringing history alive. He is the author of several highly praised books on English history including In Search of the Dark Ages, Domesday, and In Search of England and he has now made well over one hundred documentary films. Michael is currently The University of Manchester’s Professor in Public History.
Michala Hulme
Michala Hulme is a professional genealogist and social historian at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is based at the Manchester Centre for Public History & Heritage. Michala specialises in the period 1800-1950. She has made over 60 appearances on local radio and has featured on national and regional TV programmes, such as Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys, BBC’s Heir Hunters, Who Do You Think You Are?, Channel 4’s Genealogy Roadshow, Channel 5 News, BBC News and Granada News.

In conversation with Billy Bragg
2019-06-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Performance Space
Manchester Histories are delighted to welcome Billy Bragg to open the commemorations of Peterloo 2019.
Songwriter, musician and activist Billy Bragg will be in conversation with writer and broadcaster Dave Haslam, with an introduction from Young Identity, Manchester’s young spoken word collective.
At a time when opinion trumps facts and truth is treated as nothing more than another perspective, free speech has become a battleground. While authoritarians and algorithms threaten democracy, we argue over who has the right to speak. In this short and vital polemic, Billy Bragg argues that to protect ourselves from encroaching tyranny, we must look beyond this one dimensional notion of what it means to be free and, by reconnecting liberty to equality and accountability, restore the individual agency engendered by the three dimensions of freedom.
The event will be followed by an audience Q&A and Billy will be signing copies of his new book The Three Dimensions of Freedom. Copies of the book will also be available to purchase, with support from Blackwell’s University Bookshop.) Bar till 9pm.

The Hidden Tableaux’s Peterloo Massacre 1819
2019-06-07 08:00 - 2019-09-28 17:00 | First Floor Exhibition Hall
Hidden’ is an ongoing series of photographic tableaux by internationally acclaimed Artist and a Founder of ‘Rock Against Racism’, Red Saunders
The Hidden Project shines photographic light on great moments in the long struggle of working people for democracy and social justice. The aim of the project, through reimagining those events, is to reproduce important historic scenes involving the dissenters, revolutionaries, radicals and non-conformists who have so often been hidden from history.
Free – please drop in

Women of Aktion
2019-06-07 08:00 - 2019-08-19 17:00 | Archives+ Ground Floor
An exhibition sharing the story of the German Revolution 1918 and reclaiming the voices of the female revolutionaries who have, until now, been hidden from the official narrative. In November 1918, Germany erupted with a revolution which led to the establishment of the first democracy on German soil, the end of oppressive censorship, and the end of the war.
All across Germany, people took to the streets demanding peace, bread and a new political system, and among them were many women. This exhibition uncovers the hidden voices of the female revolutionaries and shares their eyewitness accounts. What kind of a world did they want and how did they seek to achieve it? Remembering women’s anti-war protest and revolutionary roles are important for activism today to give women back their radical history and remind us that political gains have never been wrested from the powerful and privileged without vocal, organised pressure and collective action, and that nothing has been won or defended without persistence, often over many decades.
Free- please drop in

Whose Knowledge Matters
2019-06-07 08:00 - 2019-08-19 17:00 | First Floor
Whose knowledge matters when we represent the city? Who decides what land to protect or destroy, whose heritage to celebrate, whose stories to tell and who gets ‘seen’ in the visual and spatial record of the city? This exhibition presents a series of counter-maps to explore different histories and residents’ knowledge from across Greater Manchester. Maps are only one way of seeing the city, just as statues and plaques represent a mere fraction of our history and heritage in our diverse and divergent urban spaces. Counter-maps trouble and disrupt formal representations of the city which map physical locations but blank residents’ memories, hopes and ideas.
This exhibition will present different kinds of maps to show what matters to residents of Greater Manchester, produced as part of a collaborative research process with local groups. We aim to provoke reflection on whose knowledge matters in the context of a vast and rapidly changing urban landscape.
You can take part by interacting with the exhibition to tell us what histories, heritage, protests and people matter to you and how these can be better valued, or coming to one of our events #KnowledgeMattersGM
Free – please drop in

Manchester College Student Exhibition
2019-06-07 08:00 - 2019-06-28 17:00 | Wolfson Reading Room
Students from The Manchester College’s UAL Diploma in Foundation Studies Art and Design were given random Dewey numbers (the most widely used method for classifying books in libraries) from Central Library’s collection. Their brief was to use the book as a starting point to develop a body of research, work and outcomes in response to a personal connection with the book.
For more information about the course please ring 03333 222444 or visit the Manchester College website
Free – please drop in

Lindsey Kelk, Paige Toon and Louise Pentland.
2019-05-31 19:00 - 20:00
Join us for a wonderful, unique event showcasing best-selling authors Lindsey Kelk, Paige Toon and Louise Pentland in a discussion of their dazzling new fiction.
Lindsey Kelk is an author, journalist and former UK children’s book editor and columnist for Marie Claire. Her previous books have sold over one million copies worldwide. Famed for her I Heart series, her new book, I heart Hawaii, is the long-awaited finale.
‘Kelk has a hilarious turn of phrase and a sparkling writing style.‘- Daily Express
Paige Toon is the author of seventeen novels, including the popular The One We Fell In Love With. Having studied Philosophy, Paige then worked at Heat magazine as Reviews Editor. Her latest book of fiction, If You Could Go Anywhere, is dubbed as the perfect summer read for 2019.
‘Such a beautiful love story- not just a heady, compelling romance but a really charming, moving story about how a life is made of so many different kinds of love.’- Daisy Buchanan
Louise Pentland is the bestselling author of Wilde Like Me and Wilde About the Girl, which follow single mum Robin Wilde as she navigates life. Wilde Women, the third book, comes out July 2019. Louise is also the number one and award-winning parenting vlogger in the UK.
Robin Wilde is a chatty, winning yet poignant heroine.’- Sophie Kinsella
Tickets for the event include a glass of wine or soft drink on the night.
Doors will open at 6.30PM for a 7PM start.

An Evening with Simon Armitage
2019-05-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT
Simon Armitage presents a new collection of poems, Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic.
Book launch followed by book signing.
Celebrated as ‘the most popular and prolific British poet of his generation’ (The Times) and ‘the first poet of serious artistic intent since Philip Larkin to have achieved popularity’ (Sean O’Brien), Simon Armitage has been involved in an astonishing assortment of projects, commissions, collaborations, residencies and events over the course of his writing career. The resulting poems stand outside of his mainstream publications, but now form a substantial body of work in their own right, and are collected here together for the first time.
The contents vary from single set-pieces such as ‘Zodiac T Shirt’, performed at the launch of Beck’s Song Reader, to the suite of ten poems commissioned to mark the bicentenary of Branwell Bronte’s birth. Several are site-specific, such as the Stanza Stones sequence carved into the Pennine landscape, and the world’s first catalytic poem, ‘In Praise of Air’, suspended from a building at the University of Sheffield. Others developed from collaborations with film directors and visual artists, or from large-scale literary projects such as the poet’s troubadour journeys across the UK recounted in his prose books Walking Home and Walking Away. Together they cover an eclectic array of subjects including sculpture, the environment, travel, drama, music and the media, documenting Armitage’s wide range of interests and his unique versatility as a writer.
As well as representing the nature and scale of his output, Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic demonstrates Armitage’s commitment to collaboration, his role as poet of public engagement and his belief in poetry as an act of communication.
‘Boundary-breaking . . . poems of emotional weight and musical grace from the fabric of our everyday lives.’ Carol Ann Duffy, Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2018 statement
‘A poet whose work is ambitious, accomplished and complex as well as popular.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Armitage is so good with the stiletto and scalpel of the vernacular he has to hand . . . image-ripe and clever, satiric, dystopian, and sometimes laced with sorrow.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘His verse is immediate, entertaining, engaged with the world.’ Independent on Sunday
‘The poet of his generation.’ Melvyn Bragg

Northern Publishers' Fair
2019-05-25 12:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Browse and buy books from a range of exciting new poets and authors from over 10 publishers including, Carcanet, Comma Press, and Fly on the Wall Press. Meet friendly independent publishers from the north producing cracking books.
Free – please drop in

Made in Manchester Exhibition
2019-05-22 - 2019-06-30 | Children’s Library
Visit our art installation which was commissioned to celebrate the multilingual poem ‘Made in Manchester’. Local artist, Emma Martin worked with nine schools to create this artwork, with around 200 pupils creating colourful portraits of classmates onto the multiple-language verses of the Made in Manchester poem. These portraits were cut and reformed into a finished art piece.
Local poet, Zahid Hussain created his original Made in Manchester poem in English. This was used as inspiration for a community project run by Read Manchester, inviting local residents and school children to write some lines in response in both English and a second language/mother tongue. From the hundreds of entries received, sixty-three languages were selected. These entries were interwoven to create a multilingual Made in Manchester poem which will be revealed to the public on 11 June.
Free – please drop in

Saturday Spectacular: When I Was a Child
2019-05-18 13:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
To celebrate the Get Creative Festival, join us for an afternoon of inter-generational family activities. Why not share some of your skills or have a go at creating vintage inspired crafts. Bring all the family for a chance to create something fantastic together.
Suitable for all ages
Free-please drop in

Saturday Spectacular - Made in Manchester poem celebration
2019-05-18 12:00 - 16:00 | City Library
Come and get creative with artist Emma Martin as we celebrate the Made in Manchester poem by creating an artwork sculpture. The soon-to-be-launched poem is inspired by all things Manchester and has been written in dozens of community languages. Emma has used this to work with over 2700 children from 9 schools to make some fabulous artwork. Today you can come and help transform this into an amazing sculpture which will be displayed in Central Library for all to see.

Matt Cain - Book Launch and Disco!
2019-05-17 20:00 - 2019-05-18 00:00 | Performance Space
Strike a pose, let’s get to it!
The brilliant author Matt Cain will be launching the paperback of his bestselling novel ‘The Madonna of Bolton’ at Central Library!
Join us for a celebratory evening as Matt talks to LGBT arts producer (and Madonna fan) Barry Priest about his latest novel and how his own life and obsession with Madonna inspired the work.
Following the talk the celebrations continue with our latest Silent Disco! 3 hours of classic 80’s, 90’s and 00’s with a sprinkling of Madonna’s greatest hits throughout.
Bar open all evening!
More about Matt
Matt Cain was brought up in Bolton. He spent ten years making arts and entertainment programmes for ITV before stepping in front of the camera in 2010 to become Channel 4 News’ first ever culture editor. In Spring 2018 he stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of Attitude, the UK’s biggest-selling magazine for gay men. His first novel, Shot Through the Heart, was published in 2014 and his second, Nothing But Trouble, followed in 2015. His latest release The Madonna of Bolton, was published in 2018 to acclaimed reviews.
`Sharply and beautifully drawn’ — Sunday Times
`An uplifting and nostalgic gem of a novel’ — Heat
`This book made us laugh and cry, and entertains from start to finish’ — Attitude
“It’s a cracker” — Lorraine Kelly
“Glorious and triumphant!” — Juno Dawson
”A trip down memory lane around the glorious streets of Bolton – a novel with a heart as big as Moss Bank Park” — Sara Cox
‘‘A book for anybody who feels at all marginalised, small, bullied or lost’’ — Claudia Winkleman
Photo credit –
Matt Cain beside his heroine, Madonna, pictured in 1984
MONTAGE. ORIGINAL IMAGES: ALICIA CLARKE, REX FEATURE
