Explore our projects

Find out more about what we do here at City of Literature. Whether it’s our big events like Festival of Libraries or International Mother Language Day celebrations, or projects produced in partnership with literary organisations around the City, you’ll find everything you need here.

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Talk About Talawa Community Podcasting

Talk About Talawa is our community podcasting project that builds on our Community Champions engagement project for NHS Untold Stories and Windrush 75. Working with Reform Radio and Assistant Producer Kim Barnwell, we engaged first- and…

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Threads

Threads is a new physical and digital exhibition of multilingual writing and material from UNESCO Cities of Literature. Textiles and threads are deeply woven through our city’s history. Manchester and the surrounding towns were long recognised…

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The Rainbow Library and Our Stories

Over the last three years, with funding from arts councils in four nations, Pop Up Projects – a London-based children’s literature agency – produced an ambitious LGBTQ+ literature creation project called The Rainbow Library. The Rainbow…

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Re:Sound

Our ongoing Re:Sound project pairs musicians with archives around Greater Manchester. The artists connect with librarians and archivists to uncover historic material which explored a range of themes that have so far included Manchester’s textile history,…

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Untold Stories: NHS Windrush Stories

To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Windrush and the NHS, Manchester Metropolitan University, in partnership with Manchester City of Literature, are showcasing recent work on the NHS Windrush Stories project. Working alongside Manchester City of…

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Stories of Gorton

SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER FIVE RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKING MONTHLY WALKS THROUGH GORTON AND ABBEY HEY WITH THE WRITER SARAH BUTLER. Each month a different person led the walk around the parks, houses, work places, neglected corners…

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Schools Writing Trail

The Manchester City of Literature Schools Writing Trail showcases the ‘best of the best’ of student writing across Greater Manchester, offering a literature trail in conjunction with Manchester’s Festival of Libraries. The Schools Writing Trail is…

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Heritage Stories

During Autumn and Winter 2021, Manchester City of Literature delivered the Heritage Stories Project, working with Archives and Community Groups in Manchester (84 Youth, Odd Arts, Hideaway, Archives+), Tameside (Tameside and Glossop Dementia Friendly, Tameside Local…

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Manchester Multilingual City Poets

Manchester City of Literature and partners have introduced Manchester’s inaugural team of Multilingual City Poets, three talented creatives who have been appointed to produce a series of original works on behalf of the City. The City’s…

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Cooking With Words

A creative feast from Manchester City Poet Anjum Malik and the chef’s at award winning local bar and grill Zouk. On Sunday 20th February 2022 Manchester City of Literature hosted a creative feast as part of…

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Digital Literature Map of Manchester

The Digital Manchester Literature Map was created by the partnership of organisations that make up Manchester City of Literature, to showcase the stories, poems, performances so closely linked to our city.     Click the icons…

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A City Connects

In March 2020, Manchester went into the first national lockdown, and would remain in a state of lockdown until the following year. At that time, the Manchester City of Literature team had only been working together…

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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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A Virtual Tour of Manchester’s Language Celebrations

Curated by Multilingual Manchester Local schools in Manchester have been holding language events for some years now, often on the occasion of European Day of Languages in September. These usually aim to encourage the uptake of…

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Connectedness Through Comics

Manchester City of Literature, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, Nanjing City of Literature and 42nd Street are delighted to announce the launch of a new project, Connectedness Through Comics. The partnership were keen to explore…

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Slamovision

The spoken word version of Eurovision, hosted by the UNESCO Cities of Literature — where each City slams their way to the grand title of Slamovision Champion every year! The UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature hold…

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Our City Speaks

Created in partnership with Contact and spoken word collective Young Identity, Our City Speaks is part of the ongoing performances by Greater Manchester’s United We Stream. Manchester City of Literature held a brand new event featuring…

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International Mother Language Day

There are about 6,500 languages in the world, and 200 languages spoken in Manchester at any one time.

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Festival of Libraries

Manchester City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries returns for 2024. This county-wide celebration of Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries takes place annually across the city. The festival, which is supported by Arts Council England, features a vibrant…

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Made in Manchester Community Poem

On Monday 10 June 2019, a record-breaking multilingual community poem was launched at Manchester Central Library, attended by over 100 special guests and contributors to the poem. Made in Manchester is a collaborative project led by Read…

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