Library Live

Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre
2019-07-19 15:30 - 16:30 UTC | Performance Space
Join the authors of the verbatim graphic novel ‘PETERLOO: Witnesses to a Massacre’ for an illustrated, behind the scenes look into the research, writing and art that went into this historically accurate and visually vivid account of the 1819 massacre of pro democracy reformers from around the Greater Manchester region.
‘This amazing artwork makes a powerful testimony’ Maxine Peake
‘A vivid and poignant retelling’ Tony Robinson
Free – pleae drop in

Saturday Spectacular
2019-07-20 13:00 - 16:00 | Media Lounge
Join us to make posters to mark the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre using pens, inks and quills. Join in with our board game challenge and much more.
Free – please drop in

The Riot Act
2019-07-20 13:30 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Written by Rob Johnston. On August 12th 1842, just 23 years after The Peterloo Massacre, Lancashire cotton-workers again marched in protest at appalling pay and conditions. Reaching Preston’s Lune Street the protesters were confronted by the authorities and read The Riot Act. A gripping mix of tragedy and humour from the WINNER of BEST DRAMA at Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2017.
Performed in association with Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2019.
“The Riot Act is a profoundly moving and poignant play” – North West End
1.30pm Performance – Book Now
3pm Performance – Book Now

Remembering Resistance: A Century of Women's Protest in the North of England
2019-07-23 12:00 - 17:00 | Performance Space
Remembering Resistance is bringing to life the history of women’s protest in the North of England.  The project is celebrating and cataloguing women’s efforts to bring about political change over the last 100 years by creating an archive of women’s activism to inspire future generations.
To ensure the voices of women who have been involved in protest are preserved, we are gathering accounts of protest actors, past and present. If you’ve been involved in campaigning and want to share your experiences, we would love to see you at our pop up event.
Here you will be able to record your stories, map the routes your protest took and help develop a timeline of women’s protest movements. The aim of the project is to inspire the next generation by celebrating women’s role in activism. We can’t do this without your stories, so do please get involved!

The Peaceful Weavers of Peterloo
2019-07-25 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
An original production, written and performed by Charlotte Peters Rock, telling aspects of this important history, in songs and stories.
The legacy of The Peaceful Weavers of Peterloo, has continued unabated, over the last 200 years. They wanted to feed, clothe, safely house and educate themselves and their children.The weavers (and other reformers) wanted the vote and the right to effect change. They wanted certain work and fair pay for their hard work and skill. In peace, as families, they came in Sunday best. The Red Cap of Liberty was flourished. For Liberty, Freedom and Justice.
Free – no booking required

Retro Silent Disco
2019-07-26 20:00 - 2019-07-27 00:00 | Performance Space
GET UP, STAND UP, STRUT YOUR FUNKY STUFF!
The Retro Silent Disco is back by popular demand this July, Dance the night away in the brilliant Central Library to classic hits from the seventies, eighties and nineties. Bar open all evening.
Doors Open 8pm. 18 and over.

Peterloo Liberty Cap Workshop
2019-07-27 12:00 - 16:30 | Performance Space
Help revive the Peterloo liberty cap as a symbol of freedom and democracy by making your own with professional artists Paul Fitzgerald and Eva Schlunke.
These will then become part of a sea of raised liberty caps for a mass participation art event during the August 2019 Peterloo Bicentenary commemorations in Manchester.

A Black Kingdom May Take The Place Of The White One
2019-07-30 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
‘A black kingdom may take the place of the white one’ – Henry Christophe I and The Kingdom of Hayti (1811-1820)
A talk by Marlene L. Daut, Associate Professor, University of Virginia.
On 1 January 1804, an army led by formerly enslaved Africans in the French colony of Saint-Domingue declared themselves independent and free of slavery forever. The leader of these revolutionaries, General Jean Jacques-Dessalines, had succeeded in defeating Napoléon Bonaparte’s famous army, the largest expedition to ever set sail from France. But in October 1806, Dessalines, who had declared himself to be the Emperor of the newly renamed Haiti, was assassinated by political rivals. Following this, the country would be divided into two separate states. General Henry Christophe established himself as president of the northern part of Haiti, while General Alexandre Pétion governed a completely separate republic in the southern and eventually the southwestern parts of Haiti. However, in March 1811, President Henry Christophe surprised everyone when he named himself King Henry I. Haiti’s first and only kingdom subsequently attracted the attention of the world.
As part of Manchester Histories 2019, this talk will explore how the leader of a modern black kingdom, 4,000 miles away from England, fought for and helped establish freedom for the Haitian people, in the same era of revolutionary upheaval and state violence that led to the Peterloo Massacre.
Free – booking recommended

The Road to Peterloo
2019-08-01 18:00 - 19:30 | Performance Space
Musical concert performance of street ballads written around the time of the Peterloo Massacre, telling the story of the underlying circumstances, the events of the day, and the aftermath. Songs are performed by folk musicians Pete Coe, Brian Peters and Laura Smyth, with a variety of acoustic instruments.

The International ArtActivistBarbie Flashmob Day
2019-08-03 10:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Come and see Central Library transformed into the International ArtActivistBarbie FLASHMOB DAY headquarters. Featuring “ArtActivistBarbie”, an activist who draws attention to inequality and injustice by posing in museums and galleries around the globe. See her work on Twitter @BarbieReports.
The space will live stream “ArtActivistBarbie” in action, as it happens across 72 countries. Everyone can post photographs of their activism on a special Twitter hashtag for the day.
“ArtActivistBarbie” workshops:
11am – 1pm – Book Now
2pm – 4pm – Book Now
You can also drop in and join the “ArtActivistBarbie” workshops to become an activist for the day. We will take “ArtActivistBarbie” into Manchester’s cultural spaces to pose for pictures, ask questions and make a comment. Feel free to bring your own activist doll along.
Led by an international collective of artists, educators and academics in partnership with NSEAD and InSEA (International Society for Education through Art). By activist Sarah Williamson, University of Huddersfield. With the support of Canadian Connections.
Photo: ArtActivistBarbie by Sarah Williamson
Free – no booking required

Peterloo Poems by Manchester People
2019-08-06 14:30 - 19:30 | Performance Space
Join us for this special event where we’ll have poets reading their own poems on the themes of Peterloo, with an audience to cheer them on.
Or if you are a mum with a young child bring them in the afternoon to our fun rhyming session ‘We’re Going to St Peters Fields.’
This event is organised by Seven Arches Publishing

The Song of Peterloo: A Performance
2019-08-08 17:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Carolyn O’Brien’s novel, The Song of Peterloo tells the powerful story of Manchester mill-worker, Nancy Kay. Desperate to provide for her ailing mother and sensitive son, Nancy is drawn into the agitation for reform. But as she risks everything to attend a great assembly on St Peter’s Field, Nancy is unaware the day will go down in history not as triumph, but as tragedy; the Peterloo massacre.
A result of a collaboration between Carolyn O’Brien and fellow Mancunians – composer, Shane Cullinan and soprano, Claire O’Brien – The Song of Peterloo: a Performance will combine readings from the novel with music from the time, together with newly-created work inspired by Nancy’s story and the brave reformers of 1819.
As the therapeutic power of music unites two of the novel’s central characters, the performers will be joined on piano by Brigitte Schwarting, a therapist from Nordoff Robbins, the national music therapy charity. The event is held in aid of this remarkable charity. Carolyn will be signing copies of the book after the performance.

In Conversation with Carolyn O’Brien
2019-08-10 14:00 - 16:00 | Performance Space
Carolyn O’Brien’s novel, The Song of Peterloo tells the powerful story of Manchester mill-worker, Nancy Kay. Desperate to provide for her ailing mother and sensitive son, Nancy is drawn into the agitation for reform. But as she risks everything to attend a great assembly on St Peter’s Field, Nancy is unaware the day will go down in history not as triumph, but as tragedy; the Peterloo massacre.
Carolyn will be in conversation explaining her inspiration for the novel and exploring its central theme of change, as well as taking questions and book-signing.
Carolyn was born and brought up in Manchester and studied English at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge before qualifying as a solicitor. Her short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies, magazines and on-line. The Song of Peterloo is her debut novel. It is published by Legend Press on 1 August 2019.

1819-1981 Exhibition
2019-08-13 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

Greenham Women Everywhere
2019-08-14 12:00 - 16:00
This year, The Heritage Lottery Fund South West funded a partnership project between Scary Little Girls and The Heroine Collective to gather the in-depth oral testimonies of almost 100 Greenham Women. The team have travelled up and down the country interviewing the women, taking original photographs and collecting material from a variety of archives. This exhibition offers an intimate look at the sights and sounds of the camp, gives voice to these radical women and asks you what change you want to see in the world.

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 – please drop in

Peterloo Film Screening
2019-08-15 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.
Suitable for ages 12+
Pay what you can – £3 / £5 / £8

Peterloo Page and Screen. Professor John Belcham and Dr Jacqueline Riding In Conversation
2019-08-15 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Historians Jacqueline Riding and John Belchem explore the events and characters behind Mike Leigh’s epic feature film ‘Peterloo’ and the process of transferring history from books and archives to the big screen.

Jacqueline Riding was the production historian and head of research on Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’ (2018) and author of the highly acclaimed tie-in narrative history ‘Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre’ (hardback 2018, paperback May 2019) described by The Guardian as “Gripping … quite simply magnificent: splendidly researched, thoroughly well written, and very difficult to put down.” She is also the author of the award-winning ‘Jacobites: A New History of the ’45 Rebellion’ (Bloomsbury 2016) and is currently writing a biography of William Hogarth.
John Belchem is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Liverpool, chair of the Society for the Study of Labour History and a member of the Mayor’s Task Force for the Liverpool World Heritage Site. He has published and broadcast extensively on the history, culture and character of his adopted city where he aspires to the title of honorary scouser. The bicentenary of Peterloo, however, has prompted him to return to his initial area of research expertise: popular radicalism in the early 19th century. His biography of ‘Orator’ Hunt: Henry Hunt and English working-class radicalism, first published in 1985, was reprinted in 2012. For those prepared to sit through to the bitter end, you will notice his name in the credits for Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’.
Image: Jacqueline Riding speaking to the “Manchester Female Reformers” during filming of ‘Peterloo’. Photo: Simon Mein © Thin Man Films
Free – booking required

Ellen's Longest Night
2019-08-17 14:00 - 15:30 | Performance Space
Ellen’s Longest Night dramatises the amazing life, thoughts and achievements of “Red” Ellen Wilkinson: one of Manchester and Britain’s best loved, most iconic, personalities.
From poverty stricken Ancoats to one of the world’s most influential women, we visit great events in Ellen & our city’s history. Particularly 7th November 1923 at The Free Trade Hall– built on the site of Peterloo. 3000 Mancunians crowd in to see two extraordinary, charismatic politicians. Ellen, stunted by poverty and illness, yet commanding a fierce intellect and fun loving empathy that endeared her to the public. A relentless commitment to social justice and female equality making her our first woman Minister for Education & Shapurji Saklatvala. Scion of the fabulously wealthy Tata dynasty of India. Politicised by the terrible lives of Manchester workers, “Sak” was elected as Britain’s only Communist MP in October 1922. Later imprisoned for incitement in a Trafalgar Square speech for the General Strike 1926; banned from his birth land India and had a Spanish Republican Regiment named after him.
During the performance there will be AV elements with Images and video of the great events with which they were involved.
Written & Directed by Nakib Narat who previously worked with Royal Exchange Theatre, Home, BBC Radio 4 and Granada Television.
Ages: 13+

LGBT Foundation Archive Handling Session: Pride Special
2019-08-22 12:00 - 14:00 | Archives+ Ground Floor
Celebrate Pride with us at this special archive handling event with our wonderful LGBT Foundation volunteers.
Free – please drop in

Queer August - remarkable stories that made Manchester and Global Pride possible
2019-08-23 18:00 - 20:00
Queer August – remarkable stories that made Manchester and G Pride possible
The huge, inclusive success of the global Gay Pride was made possible by extra-ordinary people standing-up and being counted in the ongoing struggle for fairness and truth that is the human rights movement. Those extra-ordinary people are rarely acknowledged then and especially now that the political, legislative and cultural momentum has picked-up. Those inspirational queer pioneers now marginalised by professional politicians seeking popularity, powerful commercial interests carving-up their shares of the ‘pink pound’, all falling over each other to jump on the ‘respectable’ parts of the queer bandwagon. A deliberate silence has fallen on the courageous journey and stories of those extra-ordinary people and their/our supporters.
Queer August on the eve of Manchester Pride is an attempt to shine light and provide insights into the remarkable history that got us here: a celebration of our still hidden queer past. Paul Fairweather a pioneer of Gay Politics in the city from the 1970s will give a short introduction to the hard-fought campaigns to get the first local government funded Gay Centre built in All Saints, Manchester.
The second speaker will chart the journey within her workplace and trade union to get employers and her union (UNITE the Union) to recognising and now increasingly embracing the Trans agenda.
After a short break Inkbrew Productions, will present a read-through of “The Lesbian Liberator” a dramatisation of when in 1978 the Burnley bus driver Mary Winter was sacked for wearing a Lesbian Liberator badge at work. The play looks at the reactions to the sacking and the role of the emerging women’s movement in supporting the reinstatement campaign.
By showcasing this brief insight into the extra-ordinariness of the remarkable stories that made Manchester and Global Pride possible the hope is that more people will better understand the wonderful, remarkable and sheer hard work over decades that made it all possible.
Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, City Centre, M2 5PD
Friday 23rd August 2019
Doors Open and light refreshments served 6pm
Start 6:15 pm
Finished time to 7:45pm
Ticketed seats can only be held until 10 minutes before the commencement of the event. Any unclaimed ticketed places will be offered to the last minutes unticketed.

Colson Whitehead
2019-08-28 19:00 - 20:15 | Performance Space
‘You can change the law but you can’t change people and how they treat each other.’ American author Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad. We’re thrilled to welcome him with Manchester Literature Festival to discuss his stunning new novel The Nickel Boys. In Jim Crow era Florida, teenager Elwood Curtis is about to start taking advance classes at college when he’s prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit. Sent to Nickel Academy reform school, Elwood tries to hold on to the words of Martin Luther King, but soon he has to learn how to survive in a school that’s trying to break him. Colson Whitehead will be in conversation with author Dave Haslam.
Image copyright: Chris Close

Word Central Open Mic Poetry and Spoken Word
2019-09-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Hosted by Melanie Rees with special guest poet copland smith.
copland smith, a mathematician and ecologist, is a poet (three times being amongst the runners-up in The National Poetry Competition), fiction writer, songwriter, playwright, translator, essayist, naturalist and photographer. Born and adopted in Liverpool, brought up in Wallasey and North Wales, he now lives in Manchester, where he runs Manchester Poets.
Open mic slots for September are fully booked, but to get your name on the reserve list please email mail@flapjackpress.co.uk.
In association with Flapjack Press and Manchester Library & Information Service.
www.flapjackpress.co.uk | www.facebook.com/WordCentral | www.twitter.com/@WordCentralMcr
Manchester Central Library, St. Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD. 6pm – 8pm [doors open 5.30pm] – Free Entry.

Treasures of Manchester Central Library: two Nuremberg Chronicles (1493) and their early modern readers’.
2019-09-09 13:00 - 14:00 | Seminar Suite, Floor Two
Dr Nina Adamova presents ‘Treasures of Manchester Central Library: two Nuremberg Chronicles (1493) and their early modern readers’.
The talk will explore the most famous early-printed world chronicle – the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel (1493). The presentation will focus on how the Nuremberg Chronicle was read and perceived in Europe in the age of Reformation, featuring two copies held by Manchester Central Library. The both books bear the marks of being read and used by several readers, representing different reading practices in early modern Europe.
Dr Nina Adamova is an Associate Professor at St Petersburg State University and a Visiting Fellow of the British Academy at Manchester Metropolitan University. She specialises in early modern cultural and religious history, with a special focus on the book history and reading. Her current research project ‘Reading sacred history in Reformation Europe’ explores how people in early modern Europe used to read and interpret the books on church history.

Libertalia
2019-09-10 08:00 - 2019-10-12 17:00 | Lower Ground Floor Exhibition Space
On the anniversary of Peterloo, we want to transport you to the world of ‘Libertalia’ a place where all are free and equal, a ‘way of being’ the people of Peterloo wanted so much for Manchester.
‘Libertalia’ was a city founded by Madagascan pirates in the 17th century. Here the pirates acted as “vigilant guardians of the people’s rights and liberties” against wage labour and capitalism. 100 years later the people of Peterloo became the just same guardians for Manchester, their actions heralding a new era towards social justice.
This exhibition will see Manchester as the new ‘Libertalia’. Weaving tales of ‘liberty’ guardians and launching a new manifesto to help set ourselves free.
Led by an international collective of artists, educators and academics from three continents formed in 2017 to protest the gender gap. Coordinated by Isabel-Alexis productions and Huddersfield University. With the support of Canadian Connections.
Photo: Libertalia Pirate House 2 by Isabel Lagos
Free – please drop in

Spy Kids
2019-09-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Spy Kids, the last feature Robert Rodriguez ever shot on film, tells the tale of Carmen and Juni Cortez who must save their parents from danger upon discovering they are secretly ex-spies. The 2001 film, which features stars such as Antonio Banderas, Alan Cumming and Danny Trejo, grossed more than triple its budget at the worldwide box office and resulted in a memorable trilogy.
Join us for a special screening introduced by film journalist and self-proclaimed Spy Kids fanclub president Millicent Thomas, to celebrate the unique creativity of this modern classic.
Doors open at 5:30pm. Film starts at 6pm.

Walk Without Fear
2019-09-13 08:00 - 2019-10-12 17:00 | Lower Ground Floor Link
MAG (Mines Advisory Group), a Manchester-based landmine clearance charity, is celebrating 30 years of life-saving work across the globe. The Walk Without Fear exhibition tells the stories of people affected by landmines in Angola, and MAG’s campaign for a world without landmines by 2025.

THE MINISTRY OF LOST AND FOUND
2019-09-14 11:00 - 16:00
A LONG, LONG TIME AGO, THE GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONED THE MINISTRY OF LOST
& FOUND — A SECRET DEPARTMENT TASKED WITH PROTECTING THE MOST CURIOUS AND PRECIOUS OBJECTS EVER LOST OR FOUND.
Calling all secret agents, the Ministry has been thrown into chaos and Frankie Found needs your help to find Leo Lost. Frankie has called everyone she knows, and Leo still can’t be found!
Since the Ministry’s 123rd anniversary in 2018, Leo hasn’t been seen and we think he’s somewhere in Central Library. Is he lost, hiding somewhere or has something more mysterious happened? All in all, we need your help on the mission to find him!
Join Frankie and all our Ministry friends for quests, adventures, fun and games on an expedition around Central Library. For one day only, not to be missed!
P.S. With so much to see, do, make and play, you’ll most certainly find an appetite along the way. So, don’t forget your picnic and stay for the day.
FREE FAMILY EVENT, NO NEED TO BOOK*
*some activities have limited capacity and required booking on the day at the venue.

Banned Books Week: Walled In
2019-09-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Seminar Suite, Floor Two
THIS IS A LIVE SCREENING FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Writers consider walls in literature and in our lives
With David Hare and Ben Okri. Chaired by Samira Ahmed.
David Hare is a playwright and film-maker. He has written over thirty plays which include Plenty, Racing Demon and Skylight. His many screenplays include The Hours, The Reader and the Worricker trilogy.
Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer and playwright. His novels include the Booker Prize-winning The Famished Road, the first in a trilogy, and The Freedom Artist, published in 2019.
Samira Ahmed is a freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 3’s Night Waves and Radio 4’s PM, The World Tonight, and Front Row. She presents the Intelligence Squared podcast ‘How I Found My Voice’.
This is a Banned Books Week event in partnership with the British Library, English PEN, Free Word, Hachette UK, Index on Censorship, Islington Council’s Library and Heritage Service, Libraries Connected, Media Diversified and The Publisher’s Association.

Swinging 60's Party
2019-09-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Performance Space
SORRY, THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT.
You are invited to a poptastic afternoon celebrating Older People’s Day and everything 1960’s..

Featuring the fabulous Poppy Holiday!
Downtown
These Boots are made for Walking
My Boy Lollipop
Stupid Cupid
Jimmy Mack
and many more…
So get your beehives perfected, platforms polished and get ready to shimmy, twist, frug and hitch-hike the afternoon away!
Tickets are limited so please book early by calling us on 0161 234 1932.
GROOVY BABY!

Food Mania!
2019-10-03 17:30 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Let our expert Speed Mentors help you turn your new food business into a tasty success

The UK’s food and drinks sector is going from strength to strength with developments in street food and markets, pop-up catering, hospitality and myriad innovative new product launches all contributing to our growing reputation as a nation of foodies. With almost 7,000 micro, small and medium businesses in the food and drinks manufacturing sector last year, there’s certainly no shortage of new brands eager to take a bite out of the market.
Whether you’ve got an idea for a new product or service that will shake-up the sector, or you’re already small business owner in the sector with ambitions to take a bigger piece of a profitable pie, don’t miss this opportunity to chat to our seasoned food sector experts.
This fun and informal event brings together a team of experts in the food, drink and hospitality sectors to provide insight, support and guidance on everything from funding to flavour, product to packaging and seasoning to sales!
Mentors include:
Edwin Booth CBE, Chairman & CEO of Booth’s supermarkets
Emma Wren from Geordie Seoul, Korean street food
Joe Harper from Just Bee Drinks
Jason Bailey from Grub Manchester
Yetti Tabai, founder of Yetti’s Kitchen (Caribbean fusion restaurant) and author of Food Business From Home
Claire Kelsey from Ginger’s Comfort Emporium
Rachel Gilkes, Senior Enterprise Co-ordinator Back On Track
Nick Jeffs from Plant Meats Food
Alex Shaw from Kickback Coffee
If you’re a food business owner with an appetite for success, don’t miss this event.
