Home to 4 historic libraries, 23 public libraries plus many more independents. 2 Universities in the City Centre with a student population of 98,000, plus 2 writing schools. More than 40 arts and culture festivals, including Manchester Literature Festival. More than 10 independent publishers such as Carcanet and Comma Press. The home of writers and radicals such as Anthony Burgess, Emmeline Pankhurst, Lemn Sissay, Carol Ann Duffy, John Cooper Clarke, Elizabeth Gaskell, Jeanette Winterson.

Manchester: A UNESCO City of Literature.

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Festival of Libraries

Manchester City of Literature’s inaugural Festival of Libraries, a brand-new county-wide celebration of Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries will take place from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th June, 2021. The festival, which is supported by Arts Council…

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World Poetry Day

Held every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Practiced throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry…

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If you are arranging or hosting a literature event in Manchester which is open to a public audience, and would like us share via our network, submit your details here and we’ll share it far and wide!

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“Book collection is an obsession, an occupation, a
disease, an addiction, a fascination, an
absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby.
Those who do it must do it.”

JEANETTE WINTERSON