Commonword at Elizabeth Gaskell House
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
As part of Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature series and to mark International Mother Language Day, three poets from the Commonword publishing initiative will read from their work and reflect on translation, writing in multiple languages and linguistic creativity, all in the splendid surroundings of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, former home of the 19th-century writer. The artists appearing at the event write and perform in both English and their ‘birth’ language, and include Iran-born Fereshteh Mozaffari (Farsi), director of spoken word collective Young Identity Shirley May (Jamaican national language and Jamaican Patois) and Shamshad Khan (Urdu), latterly of the Hard Rain poetry night and writer of Moonwatcher, a ‘multi-artform spectacular’ coming to the Royal Exchange Studio on 2 and 3 March.
