Featured image: Manchester Metropolitan University

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Manchester Met is joining the global UN Women 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign with a powerful festival of events designed to inspire change through poetry and literature.

The campaign will run from 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10th December, Human Rights Day. It seeks to raise awareness and advocate for an end to gender-based violence in our communities and beyond.

The festival will feature a series of poetry readings, panels and creative workshops led by academics to highlight how poetry can be a tool for transformative social change. The events aims to address the inequality and discrimination at the root of gender-based violence, engaging the public and policymakers in conversations about creating a more just society.

Dr Kim Moore, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Forward Prize-winning poet is leading the festival, alongside Lecturer in Publishing Sarah Cleave, and Senior Lecturer in Linguistics Frazer Heritage.

Kim said: “Throughout the 16-Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, students can expect to hear from leading writers and activists who use poetry and literature to campaign for social change, to raise awareness and to tell the stories that are usually silenced.”

“We will be featuring Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism movement, alongside poets like Joelle Taylor, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasha and Clare Shaw as well as poets and academics who work at Manchester Metropolitan University including Dr Malika Booker and Anjum Malik.”

Kim added: “There will also be workshops and an opportunity for students to take part in an open mic session – we hope to bring people together and become part of an ongoing conversation in society that recognises gender-based violence as a national emergency.”

The programme is inclusive of all genders and will be held both in-person at Manchester Poetry Library and online.

Event programme:

25 Nov – Reading and Discussion: Dr Kim Moore and Laura Bates

Join Forward Prize-winning poet Dr Kim Moore and feminist writer and activist Laura Bates for an evening of poetry and engaging discussion.

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26 Nov – Reading: Clare Shaw and Dr Malika Booker

A reading by poets Clare Shaw and Dr Malika Booker, exploring articulations of inherited trauma, gendered violence and resistance.

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27 Nov – Erasure Workshop

A 90-minute, hands-on workshop hosted by Catherine Davies and Roma Havers, exploring the creative process of erasure poetry.

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28 Nov – Dr Frazer Heritage and Caroline Stancer

Dr Frazer Heritage, joined by PhD student Caroline Stancer, will discuss his new book Incels and Ideologies, exploring how incels use language to construct gender and race.

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29 Nov – Reading: Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa

A reading by Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, who will share pieces from her live literature show Cane Corn & Gully, adapted from her acclaimed debut poetry collection.

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30 Nov – Workshop: Late Night Writing Hour with Kim Moore

Join Kim Moore online for a late night writing hour workshop—an opportunity for beginners and experienced writers to be inspired and find a space to be creative.

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1 Dec – Panel Discussion: Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, Naomi Morris and Char Heather

Join Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, Naomi Morris, and Char Heather for a panel discussion exploring the intersections of their creative-critical work, with a focus on feminist approaches to illness narratives.

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2 Dec – Reading and Discussion: Dr Derek Bousfield and Professor Helen Mort 

A reading and discussion with Dr Derek Bousfield and Professor Helen Mort, who have been investigating how poetry can illuminate and examine the language of gaslighting.

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3 Dec – Workshop: We Sinful Women 

A workshop titled ‘We Sinful Women’, exploring the iconic 1980s contemporary Urdu feminist poetry collection We Sinful Women, translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmed.

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4 Dec – Reading: Dr Kim Moore and Prof Khatidja Chantler

A reading and discussion of research into domestic homicide, followed by ‘i-poems’ based on survivors’ voices.

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5 Dec – Reading and Discussion: Anjum Malik & Charlotte Shevchenko Knight

A reading and discussion with Anjum Malik, poet and script writer, and Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, whose work examines gender inequality in medical spaces.

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6 Dec – Reading: Joelle Taylor

Join poet, playwright, and author Joelle Taylor for a reading at Manchester Poetry Library. Taylor’s recent debut novel, The Night Alphabet is a relentlessly inventive investigation into human nature and violence against women.

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7 Dec – 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Open Mic

An open mic event at Manchester Poetry Library, where poems on the themes of resistance, social change, allyship, or feminism are welcomed.

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8 Dec – Workshop: Permission to Speak with Caroline Stancer

A ‘Permission to Speak’ workshop with Caroline Stancer, looking at poems that help us write what we want to write, with the opportunity to create your own poetry in response.

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9 Dec – Reading: Nat Raha and Roma Havers

A reading with Nat Raha, a poet and activist-scholar, who will be reading from her new collection apparitions (nines)(Nightboat Books, 2024), and Roma Havers, a queer poet and theatre-maker based in Manchester.

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10 Dec – Dr Katherine Angel and Professor Helen Mort 

For the final event, join Dr Katherine Angel and Professor Helen Mort for an evening of incisive, topical readings in celebration of Human Rights Day.

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This series of events is sponsored by AHEAD, the public engagement programme of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Full event details can be found here.