Literature Events in Manchester and the North

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

From spotlights on indie presses to big hitters brought to you by the bookshops, festivals and libraries, you’ll find plenty to whet your wordy whistle this month.

Our top picks include Manchester regular Poets & Players welcoming talent including Carrie Etter and Peter Sansom, and a return of the ever-popular Northern Publishers’ Fair to Central Library.

We’re also looking forward to a brilliant brand-new programme of events at Manchester Poetry Library, starting with Jason Allen-Paisant and followed by Liz Berry, plus the continuing rollout of spring trailblazers including Olivia Laing from Manchester Literature Festival.

Further afield, we’re heading over the hills to Poetry at the Dusty Miller, featuring Forward Prize-winner Kim Moore, as well as looking coastwards, to Liverpool’s WowFest and Salena Godden.

Rather indulge from the comfort of your own sofa? No worries, Gaskell’s House has an online mini-season of events during May, taking a deep dive into all things Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë.

Don’t forget to add to your diary the annual Festival of Libraries courtesy of UNESCO Manchester City of Literature. And finally be sure to flick through our Bookshops in Manchester Guide and check out our pages on literary places in LiverpoolLeeds, Sheffield and Cumbria.

Our top picks

Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell season online

Online Events Season - Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell, online, Until 22 May 2024, from £5.00 - Book now

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Manchester and the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth have once again teamed up, bringing a new short season of events to a screen near you this May to take a look at the friendship between two giants of Victorian literature: Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Elizabeth Gaskell's House
Elizabeth Gaskell's House

Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller at The Dusty Miller, 2 July 2024, free entry - Find Out More

New Calder Valley reading series Poetry at the Dusty Miller continues apace, with its line-up invited by Carcanet-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson. The three guests on Tuesday 7 May are the poets Lucy Burnett, Martin Kratz and Kim Moore, so you can expect a real meeting of minds.

Ian Humphreys
Poet Ian Humphreys. Photo courtesy Ian Humphreys.

Liz Berry at Manchester Poetry Library

Poetry Reading Series - Liz Berry at Manchester Poetry Library, Manchester, 16 May 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Manchester Poetry Library’s spring/summer poetry reading series continues with the second of three events featuring the amazing award-winning poet and author Liz Berry. Free entry, 16 May.

Liz Berry
Liz Berry

Kate Feld at House of Books & Friends

Book Launch: Deeryard by Kate Feld at House of Books & Friends, Manchester, 23 May 2024, from £0.00 - Book now

Kate Feld has a book out and we couldn’t be happier – Deeryard is a new pamphlet of prose poetry and photographs, published by Manchester independent press Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers. Join her at the launch on 23 May, with readings by poet friends Mick Conley and Lydia Unsworth.

Writer Kate Feld. Photo by Simon Buckley
Writer Kate Feld. Photo by Simon Buckley

Festival Of Libraries in various venues

Festival of Libraries at Manchester Central Library, Manchester, 13–16 June 2024, free entry - Find Out More

The fourth Festival Of Libraries is a five-day multi-venue celebration of Greater Manchester’s libraries happening 13 to 16 June.

Simon Armitage. Photo Paul Wolfgang Webster

Manchester Literature Festival 2024

Manchester Literature Festival at Contact Theatre, Manchester, 4–20 October 2024, from £5.00 - Book now

Manchester Literature Festival runs from 4 to 20 October and presents inspiring live literature and spoken word from international writers and home-grown talent.

Max Porter. Photo by Francesca Jones
Max Porter. Photo by Francesca Jones.

Wives and Daughters season at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House online

Wives and Daughters - Events Season at Elizabeth Gaskell's House, online, Until 30 November 2024, from £5.00 - Book now

Each year, the team at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House on Manchester’s Plymouth Grove picks one of the famous 19th-century author’s texts to take – in modern parlance – a deep dive into: in 2024, it’s the turn of Wives and Daughters. 

Elizabeth Gaskell's House

More literature events

Ian Humphreys
LiteratureWest Yorkshire
Poetry at the Dusty Miller

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

free entry
Picture of Salena Godden
LiteratureManchester
LIVEwire at The Edge

LIVEwire is back at The Edge in Chorlton with an electric line-up featuring internationally acclaimed poet and author Salena Godden.

from £13.00
Writer Kate Feld. Photo by Simon Buckley
LiteratureManchester
Kate Feld at House of Books & Friends

Kate Feld has a book out and we couldn’t be happier – Deeryard is a new pamphlet of prose poetry and photographs, published by Manchester independent press Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers.

from £0.00
Liz Berry
LiteratureManchester
Liz Berry at Manchester Poetry Library

Manchester Poetry Library’s spring/summer poetry reading series continues with the second of three events featuring the amazing award-winning poet and author Liz Berry.

free entry
Society Manchester
Spotlight on

Beer Gardens in Manchester & Salford

Make the most of the sun in one of Manchester's many top-notch beer gardens.

Take me there

Literature Events in Manchester and the North

Manchester
Park
Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield is steeped in history, the land having been acquired by the Platt family in 1225.

HOME Manchester
Manchester
Theatre
HOME Manchester

Offering a packed schedule of events and things to do, HOME Manchester is one of the city’s leading hubs for arts and culture.

The MerseyMade building in Liverpool
Liverpool
Shop
MerseyMade

In the MerseyMade shop you’ll find bottled gin from the likes of Turncoat Gin, Anfield Gin, Albert Dock Gin and Three Graces Gin. Yep, Liverpool REALLY likes its gin.

The Hepworth Wakefield
Wakefield
Gallery
The Hepworth Wakefield

Winner of the 2017 Art Fund Museum of the Year Award, The Hepworth in Wakefield is easily one of the leading cultural highlights of the North.

Cumbria
Event venue
Penrith Old Fire Station

Main venue for Eden Arts, an artist-led organisation based in Eden in Cumbria creating projects around mass participation, local distinctiveness and digital engagement, from Picnic Cinema to The Winter Droving.

Culture Guides

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Cinema in Manchester and the North

From the latest installment in the Mad Max franchise, to silent movie masterpieces we highlight the best new releases and big screen classics showing near you this month.