Library Live

Ros Atkins - The Art of Explanation
2024-01-23 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Performance Space
We are delighted to welcome Ros to Manchester Central Library, where he will be discussing his book in conversation.
Explanation – conveying meaning – is an art. And the BBC presenter and journalist Ros Atkins, creator of the viral ‘Ros Atkins on…‘ explainer videos, is something of a master of the form.
In this book, Ros shares the secrets he has learned from years of working in high-pressure newsrooms, identifying the ten elements of a good explanation and the seven steps you need to take to express yourself as persuasively and accurately as possible.
Whether you need to articulate your thoughts clearly for business, educational or social purposes, The Art of Explanation is a must-read for anyone who wants to improve their communication skills.
Whether you’re preparing for a presentation, writing a report, taking an exam, interviewing for a job, seeing a doctor or facing a tricky conversation with a loved one, this is the ultimate guide to communicating as effectively as possible.
Ros Atkins is BBC News’ Analysis Editor and the creator and presenter of Outside Source on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. His ‘Ros Atkins on…’ explainer videos have become a phenomenon, garnering millions of views across multiple BBC platforms, making Ros one of the BBC’s most-watched journalists. He also co-presents The Media Show on Radio 4, and the innovative topical BBC One programme, Ros Atkins On The Week.

Word Central
2024-01-30 18:00 - 19:30 | Performance Space
Word Central open mic poetry and spoken word. Presented by Flapjack Press & Manchester Libraries and hosted by Tony Curry.
With special guest Lisa O’Hare.
Lisa O’Hare was a 2023 BBC Words First finalist and is co-host of Verbose. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio Manchester and in the UN Women UK’s virtual Safe Spaces Now gallery. She performed her Saboteur Award nominated spoken word show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023 after a successful run of shows at Greater Manchester, Camden & Morecambe Fringe Festivals. She also runs the social media account ‘Community Poetry Officer’, sharing poetry opportunities and events across the UK.
Book your open mic slot from noon on Tues 16th January via mail@flapjackpress.co.uk.
NB Open mic slots are 3 minutes per performer – it is essential that you stay within this timeframe.
Performance slots are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis from the stated booking time.
If they are already filled you will be offered a place on the reserve list.

Out in the World - Exhibition & Closing Event Invite
2024-02-01 08:00 - 2024-02-29 17:00 | First Floor
The Consulate General of Ireland, Manchester, is delighted to present Out In The World, an exhibition highlighting 12 stories from the vast yet largely untold history of Ireland’s LGBTQ+ diaspora.
Across the generations, Irish LGBTQ+ people have emigrated and found opportunities to live and love abroad. EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, in partnership with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, are proud to play a role in illuminating this hidden history of Irish emigration.
Out In The World tells the story of the Irish LGBTQ+ diaspora across six themes – exclusion, community, love, defiance, solidarity, and return.
Free – please drop in

Special Closing Event Invite
The Consulate General of Ireland is delighted to invite you to the closing event for the Out In the World Exhibition celebrating the story of the Irish LGBTQ+ Diaspora
On Wednesday, 28 February, 17:30 – 19:30 in the Henry Watson Music Library, First Floor, Manchester Central Library
There will be a drinks reception on arrival, with a final chance to view the Out in the World exhibition.
This will be followed by a panel discussion with members of the LGBTQ+ Irish diaspora.
We will conclude with a musical performance by HUSK.

Probably the Hardest Music Quiz in the World!
2024-02-01 18:00 - 19:30 | Chief Librarian’s Office
40 horribly hard music questions.
Get them all right and win the Super-Duper Mega Mystery Prize!
Play on your own or as part of a team (max 4 members per team).
No need to book, everyone welcome.
FREE ENTRY.
For more info please message your quiz host: alan.lynch@manchester.gov.uk

Sunday Funday - Chinese New Year
2024-02-11 12:00 - 16:00
Join us for a spectacular Chinese New Year celebration of the Year of the Dragon. We will have amazing crafts, performances, workshops amongst other exciting activities. Suitable for families.
This event is free, but please consider making a donation to support our Library Live programme if you can, online, or at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in Central Library

So the Chinese do do Sci-Fi!
2024-02-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Join us for a Confucius Institute talk about Chinese Sci-fi showing the breadth and depth of the genre. Presented by Xueting C. Ni.
Free – booking required

Book Launch: PITY by Andrew McMillan
2024-02-15 18:30 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Blackwell’s Bookshop and Manchester Libraries are excited to host the Manchester launch of award-winning poet Andrew McMillan’s PITY – his stunning debut novel which explores community, masculinity and post-industrialisation in Northern England.
Doors: 6.00, starts: 6.30
Tickets are £5.00 or free when ordering a copy of the book. PITY will also be available to purchase on the night and Andrew will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.

About the book:
The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important, it had purpose. But what is it now?
Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex, is now in his middle age, and must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to mask. Simon is the only child of Alex and had practically no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.
Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, Andrew McMillan’s short and magnificent debut novel is a lament for a lost way of a life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.
About the author:
Andrew McMillan was born in Barnsley in 1988. His debut collection of poetry, physical, was ‘the sort of once-in-a-generation debut that causes everyone to sit up and take notice’ according to Sarah Crown. physical was the only poetry book to ever win the Guardian First Book Award; it was also awarded a Somerset Maugham award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and in 2019 was voted as one of the Top 25 Poetry Books of the Past 25 Years by the Booksellers Association. His second collection, playtime, won the inaugural Polari Prize. A third collection, pandemonium, was published in 2021 and in 2022 he co-edited the acclaimed anthology 100 Queer Poems, which was shortlisted in the British Book Awards. He is professor of contemporary writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

French Film Club: En Corps
2024-02-19 17:45 - 19:45 | Performance Space
Join us for a new series of French films organised in partnership with Alliance Française de Manchester and discover the best of Francophone and French cinema. This month’s film, ‘En corps’, is a lively comedy-drama directed by Cédric Klapisch, which combines cinema with dance and tells the life-affirming story of a recovery from injury.
Screening is in French with English subtitles. Suitable for 15 years and over. Under 18s remain the responsibility of their parent or guardian.
Free – booking required – please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in the venue, or online

Reading Rascals
2024-02-24 14:00 - 15:00 | Lwr Ground Floor – Manchester Histories Hub
Reading Rascals is our very own monthly reading book club for children aged 7-12. Come and join us!
For more information and to book, email angela.rawcliffe@manchester.gov.uk
Please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes or online

Town Hall Artisans, Trades and Treasures Display
2024-02-26 08:00 - 2024-06-29 17:00 | First Floor Display Cases
Find out more about what’s happening to The Town Hall behind all that scaffolding and building wrap.

This display celebrates progress on our Town Hall’s restoration, showing some of the objects and discoveries uncovered so far, with a focus on some of the trades that are bringing twenty-first century conservation skills to the Victorian objects on display.

So, you can see a freshly restored oil painting of Manchester’s radical Mayor Abel Heywood, and some of the conservation materials used to repair the canvas and removed built-up dust and particulates.

Mosaic tesserae originally laid by Venetian craftsmen in the 1870s are on display with some of the tools of the trade being used by today’s artisans to renew them.

Beautiful stained and clear glass from the Town Hall’s ornate windows is also on show, as are bells and ropes and other gear from the building’s clock tower.

You’ll find these interesting displays on the first floor, to the left of the entrance to the Wolfson Reading Room until Saturday 29 June.
Free – please drop in

Book Launch: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey
2024-02-27 19:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT.
Waterstones Manchester Arndale and Manchester Libraries are thrilled to present an evening with bestselling author Tessa Bailey as we celebrate the publication of Fangirl Down.
The romcom queen and author of Secretly Yours and It Happened One Summer hits a hole-in-one with this sizzling story of a grumpy golfer and his devoted fangirl that is most definitely above par. Tessa will be in conversation with fellow author Lucy Vine.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey can solve all problems except for her own, so she focuses those efforts on stubborn, fictional blue-collar men and loyal, lovable heroines. She lives on Long Island avoiding the sun and social interactions, then wonders why no one else has called. Dubbed the ‘Michelangelo of dirty talk’ by Entertainment Weekly, Tessa writes with spice, spirit, swoon and a guaranteed happily ever after. Catch her on TikTok at @authortessabailey or check out tessabailey.com for a complete list of books.
Tickets are priced at £14 – which includes a copy of Fangirl Down, available for collection on the night – or £8/£6 general admission.

Creative Café – Heritage and Wellbeing
2024-03-04 12:30 - 14:00 | Performance Space
The importance of creative health is receiving critical and political attention, particularly locally, with Greater Manchester committed to becoming the first creative health city region [gmintegratedcare.org.uk].
Research demonstrates the social and economic value of using creativity, arts, and heritage to enrich people’s lives. Whilst the recording and quantifying of these benefits is relatively recent, practitioners in the arts and heritage have implicitly understood the wider benefits to society of their work for many years.
At this Creative Café, we will hear a series of short ‘lightning talks’ from practitioners and researchers. Librarians and archivists from Manchester’s Archives+ partnership, who have directly and indirectly contributed to projects enhancing well-being will be sharing their experiences.
University of Manchester researcher Dr Erin Beeston, who is creating a heritage and wellbeing toolkit for older people for use in community and care settings for Manchester Histories, and Dr Angela Whitecross, who has worked on community oral history projects including ‘NHS at 70’ and ‘Voices of Covid’ will discuss their projects.
We also hear perspectives from Manchester Histories CEO, Karen Shannon, who is developing a heritage and well-being focus for the charity in Manchester Histories Hub. Julie McCarthy, the region’s strategic lead for creative health, will explain the policy context and current work embedding creative health into public health in Greater Manchester.
There will be a discussion across the panel with the audience exploring these projects further, as well as a chance to explore pilot wellbeing activities with Manchester Histories and the Archives+ partners. The Creative Café format includes an informal lunch and networking opportunities.
All are welcome to this event, it may be of special interest to researchers in creative health, those working in heritage, the arts, health, or social care, as well as members of the public.
Dr Erin Beeston’s research work has been made possible through funding from The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), which supports knowledge exchange between higher education providers and external partners to benefit society, Manchester City Council, and Manchester Histories.
Register:
This event is free and open to anyone. As catering is provided we ask you to ensure you can come before registering. If your plans change and you are no longer able to attend, we ask that you update your registration status.
Free – booking required

Low Carbon Chinatown Talk
2024-03-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Join Manchester Confucius Institute’s public talk to hear Singaporean artist and designer Ling Ta share some of her latest environmental projects that combine data science, Chinese food culture, technology, and community participation. Find out about the various ways we can all respond to the climate crisis.
Free – booking advised

Word Central with special guest Joe Williams
2024-03-05 18:00 - 19:30 | Performance Space
Word Central open mic poetry and spoken word.
Presented by Flapjack Press and Manchester Libraries.
Hosted by Tony Curry.
A free event every month at Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD.
Next event: Tuesday 5th March, 6.00pm – 7.45pm (doors open 5.40pm).
With special guest Joe Williams.
Joe Williams is the founder and host of Chemistry in Leeds and Words on the Wall in Hexham. His latest book, The Taking Part [Maytree Press], is a short collection of poems on the theme of sport and games. His other work includes This is Virus, a sequence of erasure poems made from Boris Johnson’s letter to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the verse novella An Otley Run, which was shortlisted in the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Despite all of that, he is probably most widely read thanks to his contributions to Viz.
Book your open mic slot from noon on Tues 20th February via mail@flapjackpress.co.uk.
N.B. Open mic slots are 3 minutes per performer – it is essential that you stay within this timeframe.
Performance slots are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis from the stated booking time.
If they are already filled you will be offered a place on the reserve list.

Coming in from the Cold: Taking Centre Stage Exhibition
2024-03-06 08:00 - 2024-04-30 17:00 | Lower Ground Floor Link
An exhibition of Global Majority led community projects exploring stories of identity, loss, creativity, joy, our heritage, togetherness, resilience and journeys. Supported by The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust.
Free – drop in – please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in the venue, or online

International Women's Day: Investing in Women in Business
2024-03-08 12:30 - 14:30 | Performance Space
Join us for an inspiring afternoon with four outstanding businesswomen. There will be fireside talks, speed-mentoring sessions, and lots of opportunities to network. Light refreshments included.
Free – booking required – please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in the venue, or online

Trailblazers! Women of Greater Manchester
2024-03-09 10:00 - 12:00 | Performance Space
Trailblazers! Women of Greater Manchester invite you to a fantastic pre-walk celebration! Stalls, films, banners, bunting, singing, poetry, and an open mic slot to celebrate all your stories and share our passion for equality and making our voices heard! Come and join us, all welcome.
For more information on the IWD Walk for Women 2024 visit IWD Walk for Women 2024 | Manchester City Council
Free – please drop in

International Women’s Day Celebration
2024-03-09 13:30 - 14:30 | Performance Space
The Latin American Women’s community in Manchester will commemorate the day through poems and dance. Colibrí Mexican Folkdance UK will perform a traditional dance and a choreography to reflect the problem of femicide in Latin America.
Free – just drop in. Please support our cultural programme by donating at our cash or contactless donation boxes, or online.

Crime Central Returns!
2024-03-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Performance Space
Crime Central returns on Wednesday 13th March!
Our host Rob Parker has been curating some wonderful events over the next few months and he’s relaunching Crime Central with a corking line up!
Rob Parker will be in conversation with Chris McGeorge, Guy Hale and Marnie Riches!

Bringing the best from all over!
Featuring the best and brightest crime writing talent both locally and from around the country – the big names are all coming to Manchester!
Go behind the scenes!
Showcasing blockbuster bestsellers, emerging talent and industry insiders, Crime Central will share the real story of what goes on in the crime world.
Meet your favourite authors!
With giveaways, audience interaction, book signings, the chance to ask questions and more – while bringing a crime fiction buzz back to this great northern city.
PLEASE NOTE: Tickets for this event are on a “pay what you can” basis. They range from £2 – £6 plus the Eventbrite booking fee.
All tickets allow the same access to the event. This is a just a pricing system to accommodate for individual financial circumstances.
Signed books will be available to purchase after the event.

VULTURE CAPITALISM - Grace Blakeley Book Launch
2024-03-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Performance Space
We’re thrilled to be welcoming author and jounalist Grace Blakeley to Manchester for the launch of her explosive new book VULTURE CAPITALISM – a fresh look at the problems of our late stage capitalism crisis and what we can do to stop it.
Doors: 6.00, starts: 6.30
Tickets are £5.00 or free when ordering a copy of the book. VULTURE CAPITALISM will also be available to purchase on the night and Grace will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.
About the book:
‘A galvanising takedown of neoliberalism’s “free market” logic, one rooted in as much history as it is in current events’ – Naomi Klein
Everything you know about capitalism is wrong.
Free markets aren’t really free. Record corporate profits don’t trickle down to everyone else. And we aren’t empowered to make our own choices – they’re made for us every day.
In Vulture Capitalism, acclaimed journalist Grace Blakeley takes on the world’s most powerful corporations by showing how the causes of our modern crisis are the intended result of our capitalist system. It’s not broken, it’s working exactly as planned. From Amazon to Boeing, Henry Ford to Richard Nixon, Blakeley shows us exactly where late-stage capitalism has gone wrong.
Searing, explosive and timely, Vulture Capitalism is the book you need to understand what is happening in the world around you – and what you can do to change it.
About the author:
Grace Blakeley, one of the fiercest economic thinkers her generation, is an author, journalist, and political commentator. She attended University of Oxford where she graduated with a first-class honours degree in philosophy, economics, and politics. She has written for the Guardian, Tribune and the New Statesman among others, and appears regularly on television and radio, including on ITV Good Morning Britain, TalkTV and Jeremy Vine on Channel Five. She is the author of Stolen (Repeater) and The Corona Crash (Verso).

Behind the Scenes Tour
2024-03-21 18:00 - 19:30
What do George V, Gypsy Rose Lee and Bernard Bresslaw have in common?
Which musician was once thrown out of the Language and Literature Library?
What would you find now in the space where Patrick Stewart and Helen Mirren – amongst many others – played their first roles?
All these questions – and many more – are answered on a tour of Manchester Central Library which will take you to all the areas not normally accessible to the general public and tell the story of this iconic building. Tours last around 90 minutes and include the chance to see some of our rarest treasures and archives.
Places are strictly limited to 20 people, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Please meet in the main entrance (Shakespeare Hall) of Central Library from 5.45pm. The tour starts at 6pm.
Did you know, you can join our Library Lovers scheme and enjoy a free tour, plus discounts in our shop and cafe, and invites to other events and exhibition launches? Find out more and join online.

Percival Everett in Conversation
2024-04-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Presented by Manchester Literature Festival
‘With my pencil, I wrote myself into being.’
In James, Percival Everett’s thrilling retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the enslaved Jim is allowed to tell his story for the first time. While journeying down the Mississippi with Huck, Jim has a series of adventures and encounters. Often terrifying but hilariously recounted, they highlight the absurdity of white superiority and the ways in which Jim has been forced to hide his true intellect and abilities. In Hernan Diaz’s words, James is a ‘canon-shatteringly great book’.
Described by The Washington Post as ‘One of the most inimitable and distinct voices in contemporary American fiction’, Percival is the author of over thirty books. The Trees was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. Erasure has been adapted into the Oscar-nominated film American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright.
Presented in partnership with LibraryLive, the Centre for New Writing, Creative Manchester and Blackwell’s.

Greater Mancunians Exhibition
2024-04-19 08:00 - 2024-06-29 17:00 | First Floor Exhibition Hall
The Manchester College presents Greater Mancunians – a student led, landmark photography project, seven years in the making. The exhibition celebrates people born and bred in Greater Manchester, or those who have made it their home and have in some way shaped the city and its surrounding boroughs, for the greater good. They include musicians, sportsmen and women, entertainers, entrepreneurs, politicians, actors, academics, comedians, artists and community champions – all photographed at a poignant or significant location of their choosing, and very much a celebration of the Mancunian spirit.
Why not take a look at BBC NW Tonight’s excellent review piece of the exhibition on Instagram before of after your visit or the exhibition taster on YouTube
Free – drop in – please make a donation to support our Library Live cultural programme at one of our cash or contactless donation boxes in the venue, or online

David Nicholls in Conversation
2024-04-22 19:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT
Presented by Manchester Literature Festival
A welcome return to Manchester Literature Festival for one of the UK’s best loved authors. David Nicholls joins us to discuss his witty and engrossing new novel, You Are Here. The story of two lonely people, thirty-eight-year-old Marnie and forty-two-year-old Michael, battered by break-ups and the loss of the futures they’d hoped for. Brought together by a mutual friend, they embark on the Coast to Coast walk. As they travel through stunning landscapes and pouring rain, Marnie and Michael are reminded how to open up to new people, how to have fun in sometimes arduous conditions, and, ultimately, how to love.
David is the best-selling author of five previous novels including Starter for Ten, which has recently been turned into a musical, and One Day, which has been adapted into a new Netflix series starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall. He is also a talented screenwriter, garnering an Emmy nomination and a BAFTA win for best writer for his adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Presented in partnership with LibraryLive, the Centre for New Writing, Creative Manchester and Waterstones Deansgate.

Manchester British Sign Language Festival
2024-04-23 11:00 - 12:00
BSL (British Sign Language) is coming to Central Library! Join us for the first of two free taster sessions and see popular children’s stories come to vibrant, visual life by the wonderfully talented local BSL storyteller, Kate Tinston. A BSL English interpreter will provide voice over in English so non-signers and BSL signers can participate fully together. All little ones and their adults, students of BSL and anyone who is curious to see the beauty of signed stories is very welcome.
Free – booking required by emailing angela.rawcliffe@manchester.gov.uk or claire@bslcelebration.com

Word Central
2024-04-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Word Central Open mic poetry and spoken word.
Presented by Manchester Libraries and Flapjack Press.
Hosted by Tony Curry with special guest poet Andy Millican.
Our guest for April is Andy Millican, a multiple poetry competition winner who has had several poems broadcast on the BBC and is host of Glossop Open Mic at Glossop Labour Club. In 2018 he was invited to write and record a series of poems for the Hollingworth Lottery funded project Centenary Word War, and has also collaborated with Stockport Art Guild and artist Mark Sheeky. His debut collection, Nebulous, was published in 2019, raising money for Liverpool Eye Cancer Unit, and his latest, Something Wicked This Way Grows, was published in 2023.
Event host Tony Curry is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator who runs literature-in-the-community projects with a specific leaning towards mental health and wellbeing. His work has been exhibited at Manchester’s museum and art galleries, and his play, The Teddy Bear, was staged at Contact Theatre. Tony’s solo spoken word shows include Brit Boy, Complicit Relations, Moving and The Odyssey, performed at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, and he will be gigging his new show, Tall Tales for All Men, adapted from his collection Tall Tales for Tall Men Who Fall Well Short throughout the latter half of 2024.
Book your open mic slot from noon on Tues 9th April via mail@flapjackpress.co.uk.
N.B. Open mic slots are 3 minutes per performer. It is essential that you stay within this timeframe. Performance slots are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis from the stated booking time. If they are already filled you will be offered a place on the reserve list.

George the Poet
2024-04-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
TRACK RECORD – George the Poet in conversation with Okechukwu Nzelu
Join us for the Manchester launch of TRACK RECORD – the ground-breaking new memoir from acclaimed rapper and podcast host, George the Poet.
We’re thrilled to be hosting the Manchester launch of George the Poet’s ‘Track Record: Me, Music and the War on Blackness’. Part memoir, part interrogation of politics, capitalism and race, Track Record is a powerful and brutally honest look at the world in which we live and a searing piece of social commentary that radically shifts the conversation around race and power. George will be in conversation with Okechukwu Nzelu (Here Again Now)
Doors: 6.00, starts: 6.30
Tickets are £8 or free when pre-ordering a copy of the book. TRACK RECORD will also be available to purchase on the night and George will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.
About the book:
‘When Grime became the soundtrack to our lives, it gave a voice to the hustle. We were all looking for money, but it was deeper than that; we were looking for a future.’
George the Poet knows better than anybody the importance of understanding your surroundings.
Born to Ugandan parents on the St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, north-west London, George Mpanga has always been aware of his community. It was both his teacher and his inspiration – giving him the language, the experiences, and the skills to become the person he is today.
In Track Record, George unveils the power dynamics that shape our world, shedding light on the forces that restrict Black creativity and put limits on Black excellence. By interrogating the history of colonialism and exploring capitalism’s racist legacy, George offers a fresh perspective on the world around us.
Delving into the music scene and crucial political and economic moments in history, this book provides the backstory of where we are today.
Honest, thought-provoking, and passionate, Track Record is a ground-breaking memoir by one of the UK’s most unique voices.

Manchester British Sign Language Festival
2024-04-25 11:00 - 12:00
BSL (British Sign Language) is coming to Central Library! Join us for this second of two free taster sessions and see popular children’s stories come to vibrant, visual life by the wonderfully talented local BSL storyteller, Kate Tinston. A BSL English interpreter will provide voice over in English so non-signers and BSL signers can participate fully together. All little ones and their adults, students of BSL and anyone who is curious to see the beauty of signed stories is very welcome.
Free – booking required by emailing angela.rawcliffe@manchester.gov.uk or claire@bslcelebration.com

Northern Publishers' Fair 2024
2024-04-27 11:00 - 15:30 | Performance Space
DISCOVER THE BEST OF NORTHERN PUBLISHING AT THE FREE NORTHERN PUBLISHERS’ FAIR 2024
Fly on the Wall Press is excited to announce the return of the Northern Publishers’ Fair in 2024. This free event is an opportunity for book lovers and industry professionals to come together and browse an impressive selection of books from some of the North’s most respected publishers. Attendees will also have the chance to network with industry leaders and discover new and exciting titles from a range of genres. Incline Press will also bring a printing press to show how printed materials come to life!
Drop in, browse books, network & have a coffee!
Publishers in attendance include:
Fly on the Wall Press, Northodox Press, Saraband, Incline Press, Vertebrate Publishing, Bent Key Publishing, Peepal Tree Press, Fine Press Poetry, Nightjar Press, Confingo Publishing/Greenhouse Books, Comma Press, Stairwell Books, UCLAN Publishing, Flapjack Press, Sinoist Books, Carcanet Press, and more.
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

Crime Central
2024-04-30 18:00 - 20:00 | Performance Space
Rob Parker continues to spoil you with another perfect panel of authors!
Joining him in April will be Judith O’Reilly, Charlotte Vassell and F.E. Birch!

Bringing the best from all over!

Featuring the best and brightest crime writing talent both locally and from around the country – the big names are all coming to Manchester!
Go behind the scenes!
Showcasing blockbuster bestsellers, emerging talent and industry insiders, Crime Central will share the real story of what goes on in the crime world.
Meet your favourite authors!
With giveaways, audience interaction, book signings, the chance to ask questions and more – while bringing a crime fiction buzz back to this great northern city.
PLEASE NOTE: Tickets for this event are on a “pay what you can” basis. They range from £2 – £6 plus the Eventbrite booking fee.
All tickets allow the same access to the event. This is a just a pricing system to accommodate for individual financial circumstances.
Signed books will be available to purchase after the event.
