Literary City
Article published: Tuesday, October 13th 2009
The Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) 2009 promises to be an engaging celebration of words and wordsmiths, transcending lines of genre and form, language and linguistics, poetry and prose. The annual event has evolved from the Manchester Poetry Festival (est. 1994), a small but enthusiastic celebration of verse, to something of a cultural revolution in the Northwest.
This year’s festival kicked off early with the ‘Trailblazer’ event in September that welcomed Booker-prize winning novelist, poet and critic Margaret Atwood to Manchester where she performed with music to launch her new novel The Year of the Flood. An active environmentalist, feminist, and proponent of the Canadian canon of literature, Atwood has consistently drawn readers with her compelling style.
The festival proper runs from 15 – 25 October, bringing together the international literati. Household-names share the programme with new talent, showcasing northern stars, and exploring the human condition through words and rhetoric.
Novelists and talking heads Martin Amis and Will Self launch the October timetable with what is certain to be a lively discussion on literature and sex, and the complexities of marrying the two, both on and off the page. Whether Amis will find a favourable reception remains to be seen; he has undertaken very little teaching of late in his role of Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester University, and many among both student and academic body have questioned the ethics of a big salary for a big name while less-renowned academics have teaching budgets cut due to funding restraints.
In the same vein, Ruth Padel, was recently brought into the media limelight during the controversy of her nine-day appointment as Oxford University’s prestigious professorship of poetry. Her subject matter for the MLF is far less tawdry; her newest work, Darwin: A Life in Poems.
Many other literary and journalism heavyweights will make speaking appearances including multiple award-winning poet Simon Armitage and television screenwriter Jimmy McGovern, responsible for Cracker and the highly acclaimed The Street.
Feminism and women writers also feature prominently, with speakers including Fay Weldon, Kate Atkinson, Jill Dawson, Kate Mosse, and Joan Bakewell.
The final of the Commonword and Manchester Literature Festival prize, celebrating six new novelists, will see the winner announced during the event. The MLF also provides a forum for audience expression, through a series of workshops designed to help writers develop their art, from the surreal to the dramatic, a number of children’s events and Superheroes of Slam, and a speakeasy space for poetic and dramatic performance, wordplay and song.
www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Catherine McGuirk
More: Culture, Exhibition, Manchester
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