Humanity Hallows Issue 5 Out Now
Pick up your copy on campus or read online
By Emily Oldfield
To start 2017, Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) is inviting a number of authors of worldwide acclaim to Manchester, with the chance for the public to watch them read and discuss their work.
Waterstones Deansgate will also welcome Man Booker Prize shortlisted author Mohsin Hamid on Monday 27th February. Starting at 7pm, Hamid will discuss his novels including How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the latter receiving the Booker Prize nomination and also being adapted into a film. The author will also discuss his upcoming novel Exit West with Co-director of the Centre for New Writing John McAuliffe. Due to be published in March, the novel follows a couple forced to flee their ravaged city – a hard-hitting exploration of migration and loss.
Hamid was born in Lahore, India where he has spent about half his life, going on to live in other cities including London, New York and California. Translated into thirty five languages to date, his work crosses borders and emphasizes the importance of striving for a better future.
Award-winning poet Simon Armitage will then pay a visit in March, with an evening session at a nearly sold-out Dancehouse on Monday 6th March from 7.30pm onwards. Armitage won’t be dancing, however… the event marks the launch of his new volume of poems The Unaccompanied. Set against a backdrop of economic recession and social tension, Armitage’s latest collection is expected to be especially powerful – and for £24 you can buy a ticket for the evening along with a copy of The Unaccompanied, or starting at £10 for standard entry.
With 11 collections of poetry, numerous works of non-fiction and two novels under his belt, Armitage is a prolific writer, born in West Yorkshire. He started out studying geography (one of his first pamphlets is called Human Geography) before becoming a postgraduate student at the University of Manchester and working as a probation officer in Greater Manchester until 1994. He has written a number of poems about the North, including a verse about Luddenden Foot, which gives some attention to an oddly-named Yorkshire town.
There’s no excuse for missing out on a literary start to 2017. The festival has been providing quality live literature across the city since 2006, and seems to get bigger and better every year. For more information, visit the Manchester Literature Festival website.
Following the passing of iconic Stone Roses and Primal Scream Bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mountfield, there have been growing calls for him to be immortalised in a way that reflects both his cultural impact and the deep affection shared between the musician and his home city. GRIT Studios has answered the calls from fans, announcing plans…
Featured image: Evie Peattie Often overshadowed in popular narratives by the heritage houses of Paris or Milan, London’s fashion ecosystem has long traded on creative freedom. As London Fashion Week prepares for its 42nd year, running from the 19 to 23 February, the British capital is poised to reaffirm its reputation not simply as a…
Featured image: Sebastian Garraway Beats vibrate through a polished floor. Bodies move with a swinging grace, surrendering to the rhythm without hesitation. An instinctual sliding jig sways wide-legged jeans cut just above the ankle. Sweat drips from sharp scissor-cut hairstyles onto porous Fred Perry polos. You’ve guessed it: Northern Soul. The late 1960s phenomenon is…
Featured image: Evangeline Causton Local lad Harry Styles will take to the stage at Manchester’s Co-op Live for the city’s first-ever Brit Awards, before returning for his one-night-only show on March 6 to celebrate the arrival of his fourth album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. When cryptic billboards bearing the words “WE BELONG TOGETHER” appeared across Manchester city…
Leave a reply