Words and Photographs by Lisa Burns What better way to usher in the Halloween season than to attend a real, live (no pun intended) ghost hunt? On Wednesday, Ordsall Hall Museum in Salford became the place to do just that. As part of MMU’s Gothic Manchester Festival, the Tudor mansion became the site of a…

Words by Sophie Bannister On Friday night, the Town Hall put its fabulously Gothic decor to good use as the venue for the Mayor’s official welcome to the Gothic Manchester Festival. A strictly invitation-only gala, the event involved speeches by Professor Berthold Schoene, Director of MMU’s Institute for Humanities and Social Science Research (IHSSR), Dr…

Words by Justine Chamberlain It was probably a good 10 years ago when I first entered the National Poetry Competition, run by the Poetry Society. It was the first day I found out it existed and, because I hadn’t written any poetry in while, I didn’t have any ready to enter. So I wrote two…

Professor Isabella van Elferen and Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes     Works of the Gothic often conjure images of towering spires, long dark corridors, melted candles and eerie moonlit graveyards, but often overlooked within the study of the Gothic is that of the music and soundtrack the accompanies the genre. As part of the Humanities…

Manchester’s much-loved Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy Words by Sian Pemberton  The eighth instalment of Carol Ann Duffy and Friends kick started at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Alongside the Poet Laureate, graduates and students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Writing School joined her for a celebration of poetry and poetic talent. Four poets joined Carol Ann;…