The Rosamond Prize concert will be held at the Royal Northern College of Music (next door to MMU’s Geoffrey Manton Building, Oxford Road, Manchester) at 7.30pm on Friday 10th May 2013. All are welcome, entry is free and there is no need to book in advance.

The Rosamond Prize is the Manchester Writing School’s annual collaborative project with the Royal Northern College of Music and is named for the street that runs between the two institutions. The Prize brings together MMU’s poetry students with the RNCM’s composers (the College boasts one of the strongest composition departments in Europe), in the hope that collaborative partnerships will be formed.
Partnerships formed at a showcase in January each year work towards producing a short collaborative piece to be completed by May, when all completed pieces are performed at a concert and one piece is awarded the Rosamond Prize for that year. Past years have produced some very fine work, and some of the partnerships have gone on to produce further pieces beyond the competition.

If you have any queries about the event, please contact the RNCM on 0161 907 5200.

May 3rd, 2013 - 16:55pm

Professor Michael Symmons Roberts, Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School at MMU

The Manchester Writing School at MMU, in association with the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and Carcanet, is proud to present two internationally acclaimed poets in this very special event.

When Michael Symmons Roberts published his first poetry collection Soft Keys it was Les Murray, Australia’s leading poet, who heralded him as ‘a poet for the new, chastened, unenforcing age of faith that has just dawned.’

Tonight’s event marks the launch of Drysalter, Michael’s sixth and most ambitious collection to date, and we are delighted to be bringing together both poets in Manchester to celebrate, to read from and to discuss their work. All welcome. This is event is free and there is no need to book.

Thursday 9th May 2013, 7pm

International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Chorlton Mill, Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY (0161 235 0776)

April 24th, 2013 - 17:26pm

Short courses in the Manchester Writing School at MMU  

Manchester's much-loved Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy

Under the creative direction of Poet Laureate Professor Carol Ann Duffy, the Manchester Writing School at MMU is pleased to announce three short courses that will be running in the summer term of 2013: Journalism Skills for Creative Writers, Teaching Creative Writing Workshop and Reading and Writing Crime Fiction. For further details, or to apply, please contact James Draper on +44 (0) 161 247 1787 or j.draper@mmu.ac.uk.

Read more »

March 1st, 2013 - 16:29pm

Beacons

The Manchester Writing School at MMU, Manchester Literature Festival and Steady State Manchester invite you to explore how literature can connect us with the predicaments of our age.

February 26th, 2013 - 20:04pm

February 25th, 2013 - 17:00pm

FREE READING: Alison Moore and Nicholas Royle
Thursday, January 24th, 2013, 6:30 pm | International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY

Join us for this very exciting joint reading: an opportunity to learn about the important creative collaboration between author and editor, and to hear two major novelists read from and talk about their work.

ALison Moore

In 2012 Alison Moore’s first novel, The Lighthouse, caused a literary sensation and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Alison’s editor was Nicholas Royle, whose seventh novel, First Novel, is published this month. The two writers will be in conversation with Gregory Norminton. Come and hear them read from and discuss their work.

This event is presented in partnership between the Manchester Writing School at MMU and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

Nicholas Royle is the author of seven novels, two novellas and a short story collection. He has edited sixteen anthologies of short stories. A senior lecturer in creative writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, he also runs Nightjar Press, publishing original short stories as signed, limited-edition chapbooks.

Alison Moore’s stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies including Best British Short Stories 2011.

Free. No need to book tickets.

January 14th, 2013 - 17:48pm

POETRY Professor Michael Symmons Roberts has been presented with this year’s Foyles Best Book of Ideas Prize.

Professor Roberts said he was “delighted, surprised, astonished and honoured” to receive the prize for his work Edgelands, which he co-authored with the University of Lancaster’s Professor of Poetry, Paul Farley.

The £5,000 prize is given each year to a work of non-fiction which presents new, important and challenging ideas.

The Preston-born director of the Manchester Writing School said: “We were assuming that we hadn’t won it because it was such a strong shortlist. When we were invited to go down we seized on it as an opportunity to catch up with each other – we weren’t really expecting anything more.”

Poets

Edgelands was conceived after the two poets started to discuss the in-between places that were neither rural nor urban which they often used as settings for their work.

Professor Roberts said: “I had read an article in the journal Landscapes by Marion Shoard naming these spaces as “edgelands” and saying she thought they were beautiful. She asked where the poets were who would do for them what Bronte and Wordsworth did for the moors and the mountains. Under the influence of hubris and drink we decided to rise to that challenge.”

The resulting book attracted interest from four publishers before the pair finally settled on Cape, with the paperback version published by Vintage.

Astonished

Professor Roberts, who now lives in the Peak District, and whose sixth book of poetry will be published in April, said: “We have been astonished by the response. We’re not the first people in the arts to go into these places – artists and photographers spend a lot of time there.

“There are some great examples around Manchester. It just seemed to us to be a great opportunity to celebrate these edgelands.”

The award was presented at the annual Bristol Festival of Ideas.

The six-strong shortlist also included Zero Degrees of Empathy:A New Theory of Human Cruelty, by Simon Baron-Cohen, The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teachers Us About Being Alive, by Brian Christian, Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Made us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier, by Edward Glaeser, Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman, and The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes, by Stephen Pinker.

Ondaatje Prize

Professor Roberts is currently adapting first novel for film, and has written a radio drama, Songs and Lamentations, which will be aired on Radio 4 next month.

Next week he will be travelling to London as Edgelands has also been nominated for the Royal Society of Literature’s £10,000 Ondaatje Prize for writing about place.

Edgelands is published in paperback by Vintage and costs £8.99.

May 31st, 2012 - 14:27pm

Kathleen Jamie

Reading for the first time in Manchester, multi-award-winning poet, essayist and nature writer Kathleen Jamie will launch her new book Sightlines. ‘Kathleen Jamie subtly shifts our focus on landscape and the living world, daring us to look again at the ‘natural’, the remote and the human-made. She offers us the closest of perspectives, inviting us to gaze at vistas of cells beneath a hospital microscope, the pores of a whale’s jawbone under restoration, light filtering through trees. … Written with precision, delicacy and personal recollection, Sightlines invites us to pause and look afresh at our surroundings.’

Kathleen will be reading from and talking about her work, and answering questions from the audience. Drinks will be available from the bar, and there’ll be a special Blackwell’s bookstall, with signing after the event.

Date: Friday 27^th April 2012

Time: 6.30-8.00pm

Entry: Free – all welcome (booking not required, but email:

events@anthonyburgess.org to reserve seats)

Venue: The International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Chorlton Mill,

Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY

Contact: James Draper: +44 (0) 161 247 1787; j.draper@mmu.ac.uk

The Manchester Writing School at MMU: www.mmu.ac.uk/writingschool

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation: www.anthonyburgess.org

Sponsored by The Midland Hotel, Manchester

www.qhotels.co.uk

Hotel Reservations: 0845 074 0060

April 3rd, 2012 - 15:18pm

GIANTS of children’s literature will descend on Manchester this year to celebrate the North’s largest children’s book festival.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy unveiled the full programme for the festival at a noon launch event at New Charter Academy, Ashton-u-Lyne, on Monday, February 20.

On the guest-list will be best-selling writers Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass) Cathy Cassidy (Daizy Star series), Tracy Beaker creator Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen, author of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’.

The 2012 Manchester Children’s Book Festival – a biennial celebration of reading
– will be eleven days of fun, events and activities to inspire children to read. It runs from June 28 – July 8 at the University and at theatres, libraries, galleries and museums across the city.

Mother

Carol Ann, who is hosting the festival on behalf of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), said: “Since I became a mother, I’ve found myself writing more and more for children, so, when I was appointed Poet Laureate, it felt natural that my first major event should be a children’s book festival.

“We staged a four-day pilot in 2010 and I was delighted with the response. The 2012 Festival is even bigger and better – truly a festival for the city.

“Books are a vital part of children’s lives, as children need places where they can dream and fantasise, be Harry Potter, or Tracy Beaker. They need to be let their imagination run free without fear just as much they need to play football or dance.”

The Poet Laureate, who is also creative director of the Writing School at MMU was joined by university vice-chancellor Professor John Brooks at the event which saw the launch of the festival website www.mcbf.org.uk and festival brochure.

Next generation

Around 150 children from six primary schools in Tameside visited the Academy to listen to Carol Ann reading her fairytale ‘The Princess’ Blankets’ with music from John Sampson.

Professor Brooks said: “The festival this year is bigger and better with 75 different activities and a great opportunity for children to meet their favourite authors.

“As a University, we are committed to investing in the next generation and it is our belief that books and a love of books underpin a good education.”

Paul Jacques, New Charter Academy Director said: “We’re thrilled to be chosen as the venue for the festival launch and just having moved into a new £40m campus, our building is the perfect host for such a prestigious event.

“The city can now look forward to 10 or eleven days in the summer when everyone will be getting involved in reading.”

Enriching words

Carol Ann told the assembled children aged 10-17: “We are lucky to have famous writers but this is not about poets or authors, books are not just for writers but for everyone no matter where your interests lie or your career may take you. Access to books is an enrichment to any life.”

“Manchester Children’s Book Festival runs from June 28 – July 8 and features, among others, Philip Pullman, Cathy Cassidy, Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Rosen, Andy Cope (and Lara), Kate Fox, Adele Geras, Mary Hoffman, Liz Kessler, Justin Somper, Jackie Kay and Ian McMillan.

February 22nd, 2012 - 09:35am

Monday 5^th December 2012 – 1-2.45 pm

Zion Arts Centre

Suitable for Ages 12-16 (school years 7,8,9,10)

Cost: free – contact schoolsoutreach@mmu.ac.uk to book places

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The event: by popular demand, Julie Bertagna, author of the acclaimed Aurora trilogy for young adults returns to Manchester to help us launch the Midland Future Manchester Short Story competition to schools. Julie’s presentation explores early science fiction written by teenagers – telling the story of how Mary Shelly came to write Frankenstein and the environmental and scientific developments that inspired her back in the 19^th Century – before talking about how she took inspiration for her own writing from the world around her. She will share some of her own secrets and tips with young ‘imagineers’ of the future to inspire them.

This event is presented by the Manchester Children’s Book Festival in association with Manchester Metropolitan University. Copies of the Aurora books will be on sale at the event and Julie will be happy to sign copies. Competition literature will be available at the event to help publicise the competition in schools.

The Competition: pupils are invited to write a fictional short story set at least 10 years in the future. Imagine how everyday life in Manchester might be affected by technological and scientific advances and/or environmental and population changes. We want to read your pupils’ unique vision of a future Manchester.

The competition is a joint initiative led by the Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester Children’s Book Festival and the Manchester Science Festival. Schools attending the event on Jan 27^th will be given priority for booking free follow-on workshops led by Science/Writing practitioners in Jan/Feb. Pupils are invited to submit their short stories to our panel of judges by March 5^th 2012. The competition is open to anyone and winners will be announced at a Manchester Children’s Book Festival event in July 2012, where they will be presented with copies of the Future Manchester anthology by judges Julie Bertagna, Saki Lloyd and Jane Rogers.

For details of Julie’s last visit to Manchester as part of the Manchester Literature Festival in October see their blog.

www.juliebertagna.com

www.mcbf.org.uk

December 8th, 2011 - 12:24pm