Festival Of Libraries in various venues

Creative Tourist
Simon Armitage. Photo Paul Wolfgang Webster

Festival of Libraries at Manchester Central Library, Manchester 4 — 8 June 2025 Entrance is free — Visit now

Festival Of Libraries is a five-day multi-venue celebration of Greater Manchester’s libraries, returning in 2025 from 4 to 8 June.

Taking place in and organised by the UNESCO Manchester City Of Literature, the Festival Of Libraries is “a joyful celebration of the role that Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries play in wellbeing, culture, creativity and more”.

Last year, the festival was opened with a performance by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and his band LYR (Land Yacht Regatta), who unveiled a new song, ‘The Enlightenment’, commissioned by Festival of Libraries and paying tribute to the transformational powers that lie within the walls of libraries.

More celebrations come with the annual Inspired By Libraries series, featuring a host of ‘in conversation’ events with the likes of Children’s Laureate Joseph Coehlo, actors Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake, and musician and spoken word artist Antony Szmierek at Manchester Poetry Library.

We’ll have more about what’s on at this year’s Festival of Libraries – the fifth – soon. In the meantime, check out our guide to Libraries in Manchester.

Festival of Libraries at Manchester Central Library, Manchester 4 — 8 June 2025 Entrance is free Visit now

Accessibility

  • Dementia-friendly
  • Parent and Baby
Manchester Town Hall
TourManchester
The Magical Mystery Bike Tour

Hop on your bike for this guided cycling tour, exploring fascinating corners of Manchester you may never have seen before.

from £25.00

Where to go near Festival Of Libraries in various venues

St Peters Square Manchester
City Centre
St Peter’s Square

St Peter’s Square is a public space in Manchester – home to the city’s iconic library, town hall, Pankhurst statue, art gallery and famous Midland Hotel.

Manchester Art Gallery. Photo by Andrew Brooks
City Centre
Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery

The Charles Barry-designed, Grade I-listed Manchester Art Gallery is one of the city’s leading galleries and is back open for visitors once more.

Chinatown
Hotel
The Alan

This high-end city-centre restaurant has an excellent afternoon tea option that more than matches up to the superb main menu.

Salut Wines
Chinatown
Bar or Pub
Salut Wines

Salut wines pride themselves in offering “wider horizons beyond the safe choices.” With 42 wines by the glass and a regularly changing selection of bottles in their Enomatic wine preservation machines (or  “wine jukebox,” as they’re colloquially known), this is one of be best bars in Manchester for exploring new vintages.

Manchester
Restaurant
Friska

Latest branch of Friska, the independent healthy fast food chain.

Manchester
Restaurant
Don Giovanni

Traditional Italian restaurant, serving everything from pizza to steak. All this in a large modern venue with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

City Centre
Tourist Attraction
Manchester Town Hall

Re-opening in 2024, Manchester Town Hall is a monument to Victorian Manchester’s ambition, and one of the city’s most-loved landmarks.

City Centre
Tourist Attraction
Albert Square

A public square in the heart of Manchester which plays hosts to festivals and major events. Home to the Albert Memorial and statues of Bishop James Fraser, John Bright, Oliver Heywood and William Ewart Gladstone.

Contemporary Six, art gallery in Manchester
City Centre
Gallery
Contemporary Six

Contemporary Six is an independent commercial art gallery in Manchester city centre, set up by Alex Reuben in 2010.

What's on: Literature

Katharine Towers
LiteratureManchester
Poets & Players at Burgess Foundation

Poets & Players is a must-go for lovers of words and music, presenting poets established and emerging, with the latest readers Katharine Towers, Sascha Akhtar and Victoria Gatehouse.

free entry
Tom Branfoot. Photo Eleanor Hall, Museum of the Home
LiteratureWest Yorkshire
Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller is a now regular night with invited readers, organised by Carcanet-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson in the Coiners’ Room in the Mytholmroyd pub.

free entry

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Laura Ellen Bacon, Into Being, 2025. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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