The history of Caribbean Carnivals is much more complex than many realise. Carnival has origins based in colonialism and religious conversion, but it has now become a festival and celebration […]
On 4 June 1976, the Sex Pistols played for the first time in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. The gig is seen as the catalyst for the Manchester […]
Two award-winning stars of Irish writing join us to discuss their acclaimed novels. Jan Carson’s The Raptures is a playful, inventive whodunnit set in the small town of Ballylack. Hannah’s classmates are […]
‘I live with the dread that one day when my young muscles rebel, can take no more stillness and the brutal confinement of my very self, I will stand and […]
It's 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man, especially one who has escaped slavery. So how does Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the King, write and […]
One family, four decades, four funerals, one unfulfilled promise. Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, Damon Galgut joins us to discuss his masterpiece The Promise, a gripping, beautifully written family saga […]
The bestselling and much-loved author of Brick Lane, Monica Ali visits MLF to celebrate her brilliant new novel Love Marriage, her first book in a decade. Yasmin’s engaged to fellow Junior Doctor Joe, […]
Award-winning BBC broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake brings a defibrillator to our ailing ability to connect through conversation. In Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations, Nihal considers what’s happened to discourse, both public and […]
From Millworkers to Millennials: paintings, drawings and screen prints by Jean Hobson When Jean Hobson started drawing Manchester’s old buildings in 2007, she did not realise she was charting a […]
Looking for a fun way to introduce children to important environmental issues? Sarah Roberts, author of the acclaimed Somebody Swallowed Stanley, will be sharing her latest beautifully illustrated book Somebody Woke Wilson. […]
At first glance, it seems unlikely that the white English Victorian writer Charles Dickens and the Black American musician Prince Rogers Nelson have anything in common. But as two of […]
With Moniza Alvi, Romalyn Ante, Rebecca Goss, Ian Humphreys & Carola Luther One of the most dynamic and admired American writers of the 20th Century, Sylvia Plath’s legacy as a […]
From dedicated performance spaces to stairwells, screens, nooks and domes, Central Library might directly inspire your next event or intervention. Contact us to arrange a tour.
