Northwest Book Highlights – March 2015

Kazuo Ishiguro is frequently referred to as a literary jack-of-all-trades (and master of many of them too) – it’s pretty rare to find a great writer with the ability to seamlessly flit between English country house drama and biological dystopia. Diverse works such as The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go have sold more than a million copies each, helped by successful Hollywood adaptations. Ishiguro will be talking about his new novel The Buried Giant – described by publisher Faber as a story of ‘love, revenge and war’ – at Manchester Central Library on 4 Mar.

Elsewhere, as part of SICK! Festival 2015, a group of authors – ranging from writers of memoir, comic books, academic texts and novels – will explore why literature and books are so often the only outlet for the unspeakable questions of society. At the Anthony Burgess Foundation on 15 Mar, panellists including Katie Green and Damian Barr will discuss what makes narratives of abuse and anorexia sell, and will ask why readers seem so interested in tales of pain and anguish.

The team behind First Draft relocate to the neo-Gothic surroundings of the John Rylands Library for Vaults, an evening of fiction, comedy and poetry on 19 Mar. A few First Draft favourites like Nija Dalal-Small and David Hartley will be performing on the night. Expect the usually tranquil and peaceful atmosphere of the John Rylands to get a bit raucous.

Meanwhile, spoken-word talent takes centre stage in Liverpool this month. In the city of the Mersey poets with a reputation for direct expression, the Dead Good Poets’ Society follows in the Liverpudlian storytelling tradition by introducing a number of up-and-coming poets at Blackburne House on 4 Mar. Also, Storm and Golden Sky invite Maggie O’Sullivan and Chris McCabe to The Caledonia, nestled in heart of Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter, on 27 Mar. Chris McCabe’s poetry is noted for its experimental blend of peculiar imagery and pop culture references; Maggie O’Sullivan is regarded as a figure of the British Poetry Revival – providing a Modernist reaction to the conservative elements of British poetry – and her work often deals in paradox and contradiction. Go along for a night of great poetry.

Finally, there is a chance to explore Manchester’s waterways, hidden lives and historic buildings with Tales from the Towpath. Having premiered at 2014’s Manchester Literature Festival, the storytrail is an interactive writing experience, which uses micro-projections to transform the familiar sites of Manchester. Head online and put yourself in the story and watch the space around you transform.

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