Changing the world

Beacons: Stories For Our Not Too Distant Future, Thursday 7th March, 6.30pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Words by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Clare Dudman.

Manchester Literature Festival celebrated Climate Week by holding the launch of Beacons: Stories For Our Not Too Distant Future, an anthology of cautionary tales themed around environmental damage. In our last blog post, we'd already asked the collection's editor, Gregory Norminton, whether he thought literature could change the world, and this theme cropped up again tonight, in both the introduction and in the second half, when audience members were asked to share titles of texts that had shifted their perspective and made them consider behavioural improvements. 

"Even if it doesn't change the world, this book will at least unsettle you. It's bracing, it's thrilling, it's frightening in places," says Gregory as he explains how the collection, six years in the making, came together. "Fiction that makes you imagine the 'unimaginable' is really useful and the key is to engage with people on an emotional level. The environmental timebomb isn't a coherent, easy-to-understand narrative, but focusing on the human condition helps you try and make a predicament work as a set of stories."

Left to right: Rodge Glass, Cathy Bolton and Gregory Norminton

Another way to make the contents gel was to avoid being overly preachy. "If we asked our writers to write 'campaigning stories', we'd end up with a bad book," Gregory continues. "It's not 'them and us' - we're all in this together. If we agree to this as citizens, we should agree to that as writers too."

Rodge Glass, one of tonight's readers, nods his head. "The challenge is not to come over as if you're hectoring people. It's our responsibility as writers to engage with the world and be honest about it," he chips in. His pacy story is based in Krakow and focuses on a group of political campaigners living in the shadow of the threat of imminent and catastrophic flooding. 

Clare Dudman, who reads first, looks at coping with life in a drier, warmer Britain, although she says she wanted to write a story that had hope in it. Her protagonist, Sophie, is an editor because Clare wanted to explore her own usefulness, as a writer, in the face of an apocalyptic event. "It's so scary, what's happening," she says. "You feel obliged to write about it and have it at the back of your head all the time." 

Gregory is the last to read an extract, his offering being a pastiche of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, his choice for the debate after the break. Others that were raised ranged from George Orwell's 1984 and William Golding's The Inherited to Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne and The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer. Gregory holds aloft his copy of Beacons. "I want this book to start a conversation," he says, and I think, going on tonight's event, it already has.

You can read another interview with Beacons editor Gregory Norminton, written by Marc Hudson on the Manchester Climate Monthly site, where a full list of the books that changed our audience's world will be published shortly and where you can find out full details of their new short story competition.

Homes from home

Jeanette Winterson & AM Homes, Monday 22nd October, 6.30pm, Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama

Words by Fiona Christie. Photograph by Jon Atkin.

I was the beneficiary of a random act of kindness in getting a ticket for Jeanette Winterson and AM Homes in conversation when I was given it by a total stranger I'd got chatting to a couple of days before at another MLF event. This was evidence to me of that shared (and yes, cosy) community that is the world of book-lovers - readers and writers alike (thanks to Artificial Silk, you know who you are).

It was this kind of generosity of spirit that for me was most noteworthy about listening to JW and AM  in conversation. There was such warmth and mutual regard between these two writers who had known each other's work long before they became friends. The fact that they were both adopted as children is a strong common bond that they share, in addition to being writers. I was left wondering if a conversation between two male authors would have had such warmth. Don’t think so. I'll admit, I'm not an avid fan of either writer, having read JW’s work in the 80s when it was obligatory for any aspiring feminist undergraduate, and having never read AM Homes. However, I was certainly motivated to go away and do so. 

It’s interesting that the solitary pursuits of both reading and writing are so fundamentally communal when lovers of the same literature, both producers and consumers, come together. Reading and writing seem so sociable at events such as these. But it does also seem counter-intuitive and destined to disappoint when we ask our writers to “perform”. 

There was a charming self-consciousness between these two writers as they tittered away about the ruder parts of AM Homes' latest book, May We Be Forgiven. It was a bit like a couple of undergraduates getting the giggles when presenting in front of a lecturer; in this case Nancy Rothwell, the University’s VC who was looking on. JW seemed fairly giddy about the occasion and began the evening with hilarious reference to fact that she had by chance chosen the same outfit of frock coat and boots that was worn by the rather stately gentleman on the pull-up banner which advertises the MLF.  At other points in the evening, it was as if they were so absorbed by their conversation that they forgot the audience was there.

JW and AM discussed women’s writing, both expressing concern that women were pigeon-holed in writing small world stories rather than the great novels which cover the big issues (Jonathan Franzen got more than one mention in this respect). They speculated on why so few men seem to read women’s writing (albeit quoting from a GQ survey that probably lacks rigour). They seemed to agree that AM has a slightly different readership from JW. JW said it was women writers who were drawn to her creative writing classes, whereas AM said it was the geeky men who were drawn to the classes she teaches. She shares the JK Rowling approach of avoiding her true first name as her writer’s name; in the great tradition of George Eliot hiding gender in order to get a wider readership (though she would argue more accidentally, than deliberately).

An interesting evening in which JW felt clearly at home in our city and the Manchester audience lapped up her reading from Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, in which she brilliantly describes Manchester and our restive and creative tradition. The audience clearly wanted more from JW than they got, but, in true Manchester fashion, they welcomed and warmed to the interloper of the night AM Homes.

  

Fiona Christie is a self-confessed lover of books. You can follow her on Twitter @FCChristie.

Young Digital Reporter at Swimming and Flying #2

Swimming and Flying, Friday 19th October 2012, 7.30pm, Whitworth Art Gallery

Words by Liz Gibson. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew. 

I hadn’t known exactly what to expect from Mark Haddon at his event at the Manchester Literature Festival; whether he was going to do a talk, read from his books, answer questions, or a combination of these things. What he did do surprised me – he presented a piece entitled “Swimming and Flying”, an incredibly dynamic and engaging speech which addressed a huge range of subjects and which included some advice on writing. As an aspiring writer, I found his words of wisdom very interesting.

He began by telling of an incident that took place when he was at boarding school, when he naively owned up for something that turned out not to be his fault, was punished, and became a hero among his schoolfellows. He described his confusion that everything as he knew it had been turned upside down; he was effectively being congratulated for breaking the rules. He then went on to talk about his love of science and how, from a young age, he has grappled with big questions, for example: will we ever know exactly how big the universe is, and where it ends – if it ends? This is something I have often pondered myself, and whether we will ever know the answer, I do not know. 

Mark went on to discuss both swimming and flying; how he had once been afraid of swimming in deep water and of great white sharks. He was running by the Thames one morning and decided on a whim to swim in it, and the way he described the experience was like poetry. He clearly adored it. He now swims in the Thames several times a week, which I am in awe of. He then spoke about overcoming his fear of flying by realising what a miracle it is that we human beings have learnt how to fly. His tale ended with a description of him in a plane flying up into the unknown, and as well as being a nice image on which to end, it also summed up all his ideas on science, the universe, facing our fears and how trying to understand something can stop us from being afraid of it.

I enjoyed his talk; it wasn’t what I had been expecting, but it was very special and personal, and really made me think – about science, writing, taking risks and overcoming fears. Afterwards he signed my copy of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and he was very friendly and pleasant. I went home feeling that maybe I would look at the world slightly differently now thanks to this talk. I had an evening to remember. Thank you, Mark Haddon, and thank you, Manchester Literature Festival.

Liz Gibson blogs at: http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk

 

Throughout the Festival in 2012 we have been working with a group of young people to support them to become digital reporters, and to document a range of events from their perspective. As well as writing blogs and reviews, the young digital reporters have responded to our events using other methods such as photography, illustration and radio.

International relations

Sex and the Cities, Friday 19th October, 7.30pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation

You can read a review of this event on The Manchester Review, published by the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester.

Grand finale

Jonathan Harvey, Tuesday 23rd October, 7pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Words by Michael Smaczylo. Photograph by Jon Atkin.

For the 75th and final event of this year’s excellent festival, Jonathan Harvey is joined at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus for a brilliant finale. Harvey wrote his first play in 1987, for which he won a £1,000 prize from the Liverpool Playhouse and the National Girobank Young Writer of the Year Award. Since then he has won numerous awards for his plays and television writing, and he is currently part of the Coronation Street team. Perhaps his most famous work, Beautiful Thing, was written in 1993, made into a movie in 1996, and performed last year at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, a production which included a song performed tonight by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus, who begin and end the event with three of these songs. Today however, he is talking about his first novel, All She Wants, to which Caitlin Moran responded by saying, "If Harvey is the Scouse Proust, then this is his remembrance of things pissed."

The novel is narrated by an airheaded soap actress called Jodie McGee, which sounds like an ambitious move for a male writer, but one which, judging by his reading, Harvey pulls off very comfortably. He tells us that his second novel, on which he is currently working, also uses a first-person female narrator and that he recently wrote his first sex scene, and had to check with a female friend that it wasn’t "too gay". The chapter he reads to us happens when his protagonist is 17 or 18 and is both silly and hilarious, particularly as Harvey reads his characters’ voices so well. In this section, a friend of Jodie’s, who has recently hooked up with a disabled boy at a party, has become a political-correctness warrior, and even turns up to a pub in a wheelchair herself. After this, Jodie’s parents find out that her "perfect" brother Joey is gay, when he is arrested for gross public indecency. They are horrified to begin with and see him as a freak, until a colleague’s lesbian daughter becomes the talk of her workplace, and Jodie’s mother begins to brag that her son has been gay for years and that she practically encourages it. Harvey delivers the reading with great energy to a highly responsive audience.

He then takes questions, beginning with one regarding his choice to write a novel for the first time after 25 years of writing for stage and TV. He speaks about how he became a playwright and what it’s like to be part of the Coronation Street team, joking that since joining he hasn’t felt so bad about the number of shows he has been fired from. Something that is noted by audience members is the cultural "nowness" of his work, which is full of references to popular culture, and the way all of the characters of his novel can be related to real people.

After two final songs from the L&G Chorus, Festival Coordinator Jon Atkin makes the acknowledgements which close what has truly been an amazing festival. 

Michael Smaczylo is a gap year student who has just completed his A-levels at Manchester Grammar School and hopes to study English Language and Literature at university next year. He Tweets as @mashsmaczylo. 

Awards and rewards

Northern Writers' Awards, Monday 22nd October, 1pm, Waterstones Deansgate, Events Room

Words by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Jon Atkin.

To celebrate the fact that, after 12 years, the Northern Writers' Awards are extending their reach to include areas outside the North East, New Writing North is officially launching the 2013 competition at this event as part of Manchester Literature Festival.

New Writing North chief executive Claire Malcolm introduces the awards, of which there are a number (for example, the Andrea Badenoch Award, for women writers over the age of 42, the Waterhouse Award for Poetry, and various new fiction bursaries). As well as financial support, winners receive exposure to mentoring opportunities, editorial expertise, professional development, exchange programmes and events with the chance to meet agents and publishers.

So far, over 100 writers have benefited from the scheme and previous winners Mari Hannah (2010) and Dan Smith (2005) join Claire to read from their work and discuss how the support they have received has steered their writing careers. Mari reads from The Murder Wall, one of a three-book deal Pan MacMillan signed her up for. The crime series features the character Detective Inspector Kate Daniels and is based in the North East, this one in the area around Hadrian’s Wall. Dan gives us an extract of his third novel through Orion, The Child Thief, about a kidnap in 1930s Ukraine; features of his thrillers being foreign locations and historical settings.

So, how has being a winner of the Northern Writers Awards helped the two writers here today get to this stage? Mari puts it down to the confidence she felt by winning: “Somebody else is saying: ‘We think your writing’s strong’.” Dan nods wholeheartedly. “It’s the encouragement you feel,” he agrees.

This year’s awards pot has increased from £25k to £40k, and submissions (which are all online) will be accepted between 1 December 2012 and 31 January 2013. The judges are different each year, and this time round reflect the awards’ extended area: Cumbria’s Sarah Hall (fiction) and Yorkshire’s Ian McMillan (poetry). We’ll give Mari the last word; if you need any more encouragement to apply, this is it: “Get your submissions in - honestly, it can change your life. It did mine!”

Sarah-Clare Conlon is a freelance writer, editor and press officer. Her award-winning blog, Words & Fixtures, is about language, literature, arts and culture.

Irish spirit

Sailing to Byzantium, Sunday 21st October, 3pm, Royal Northern College of Music

Words by Michael Smaczylo.

The RNCM Concert Hall is a bit of a time capsule for me. As a child I would play there in violin groups and orchestras, but today is the first time I’ve visited in six or seven years, so it’s great to be back. I’ve always loved music of all sorts and sang at the Montreux Jazz Festival last year. I’m also a big fan of modernist literature and have recently been reading a lot of Joyce and studying his literary context, so when I first heard on the radio, while travelling home from the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, that Christine Tobin, who was named Best Vocalist at the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards, had released an album of WB Yeats poems set to music, it was an extremely exciting prospect. When I saw that she would be performing the songs as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, I knew I had to go along.

Taking the stage with her band, which consists of Phil Robson on guitar, Kate Shortt on cello, Liam Noble on piano and Dave Whitford on double bass, Tobin explains that when asked to talk about Yeats by the National Library of Ireland, she decided that arranging and performing some of his poems would be a far less daunting task, and from this came the idea for the album. The performance begins with a recorded reading of The Lake Isle of Innisfree, by her ex-school teacher and actor Gabriel Byrne, followed immediately by the album’s first song, When You Are Old, a love poem from Yeats’ second collection, The Rose. This is followed by another love poem, The Song of Wandering Aengus (Aengus being the Celtic god of poetic love). 

What is immediately obvious is the prodigious talent of each of the performers; each musician playing extended improvised solos, and Tobin’s voice as rich live as post-production on the album. Between songs she offers context to the poems, telling us, before playing The Wild Swans at Coole that Coole, in County Galway, was the residence of Lady Augusta Gregory, with whom Yeats founded the Irish Literary Theatre, and describing The Second Coming as a "dark and apocalyptic vision"; an atmosphere perfectly conveyed in the music by the ominous 5/4 ostinato and chaotic middle section. Next is The Fisherman, a poem that perfectly exemplifies the romantic notions of Irishness that Yeats is renowned for, and his abhorrence of the crass and the everyday, the "beating down" of art.

Sailing to Byzantium, the album’s title track, is one of Yeats’ most famous poems, written later on in his life at a time when he had become fascinated by Eastern mysticism, and Tobin’s melody and harmonies have an Eastern flavour. What Then?, a poem she describes as a "potted biography" of Yeats’ life, encapsulates his search for affirmation even in old age. I think that my favourite of the arrangements must be In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markiewicz. These were two friends of Yeats’ with whom he eventually disagreed, as they put politics above all else, while he prioritised art. The performance finishes with renditions of Byzantium and Long-Legged Fly (for which Tobin sings through a megaphone), and a reading of The White Birds, again by Gabriel Byrne.

It’s been an incredible performance and I’m feeling completely inspired. I think I might go and arrange some Keats or something. 

Michael Smaczylo is a gap year student who has just completed his A-levels at Manchester Grammar School and hopes to study English Language and Literature at university next year. He Tweets as @mashsmaczylo.

Preaching to the converted

Manchester Sermon, Thursday 18th October, 7pm, Manchester Cathedral

Words by Benjamin Judge. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.

The sermon was once a respected literary form like the poem or the essay. In the 19th century, many of our greatest writers wrote them, they were collected together in books and they were, like, probably, like, on the telly, like, all the time and that. Then, in the 20th century, Mary Quant invented the Beatles and something-something-something to do with Spitfires and rationing, and then all of a sudden there was that song based on the music from Tetris, and Ace of Base, and that thing with Carol Smillie where they decorate each other’s homes and cry because they don’t like how they decorated each other’s homes, and... where was I?

Oh yes, sermons. Well, Manchester Cathedral and the Literature Festival and various other people got together and decided to give sermons another go. It started two years ago, with the first Manchester Sermon, which was delivered by Jeanette Winterson. Then last year Andrew Motion visited the cathedral. This year Ali Smith became a sermoner for a day. (Note to self – check if sermoner is a real world.)

And the interesting thing about all this is... it works. I am not a Christian, I am not very religious period, but in two of the last three years, the Manchester Sermon has been my highlight of the festival. (I should clarify here that I’m not suggesting one of the previous two years wasn’t up to snuff; I missed Andrew Motion because I was having tea at my mum’s house.) That shouldn’t be a surprise, really. The Bible is an infinitely interesting text, whatever your thoughts on it, so it makes sense that when you invite brilliant writers to speak about it, the results will be entertaining and thought provoking.

And Ali Smith is a brilliant writer. And a brilliant speaker too. I was lucky enough to meet her briefly, and to see her read from There But For The last year. I would happily pay to see her read from the phonebook. As a writer, she is so alive to the joy of language, of words, that she seems incapable of talking without investing her speech with that joy. From her opening sentence, a borrowing of a pun, “Let us play”, to the final word, via a series of increasingly lovely rebeginnings, rebegottings, quotes, asides, ideas and jokes, all held together by a narrative voice that anyone familiar with her novels and short stories will already be enamoured of, she talked about Donne and death, and loss and the Book of Job, and somehow made all of it joyful and true and wise.

Yeah, that good.

There are many events at the Manchester Literature Festival. Some are interesting, some are funny, some are serious, some are life-changing. But of all the events, none are quite as important as the Manchester Sermon. The Sermon creates new, and repeatedly brilliant, work in a form that is all but forgotten. It investigates the place of the Bible in literature and the place of the Bible’s lessons in an increasingly secular society. It opens up a dialogue between literature and religion. It offers a place of reflection in the bustle of the city centre. And, most appealingly of all, it does so without being preachy or pushy or even the slightest bit judgmental. And they have a choir at the start. Singing a couple of hymns. All beautiful and that.

So, there you are. I had fun in a church. Again. Manchester, eh?

THE MANCHESTER SERMON 2012 IS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FROM THE MANCHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL WEBSITE: CLICK HERE.

Benjamin Judge is the author of Who the fudge is Benjamin Judge?, the winner of the Best Writing Award at the 2011 Manchester Blog Awards. You can follow him on Twitter: @benjaminjudge

You can read more reviews of this event, by students at the Centre for New Writing, on The Manchester Review.

Fun for all the family!

Family Reading Day, Sunday 21st October, 11am-5.30pm, Manchester Town Hall

Words by Kevin Danson. Photographs by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew and Jon Atkin. 

It is a rare day today. The sun is hovering over our city and the Manchester Literature Festival have an entire day planned for children to come to the Town Hall and listen to a variety of children’s authors.

This building is another one of Manchester’s fantastic shows of architecture, grand in its structure and a grand place to hold these literature events. Children and adults alike catch themselves looking up in awe at the carved and adorned rooms. We are in a banqueting parlour surrounded by huge paintings of old men, here to listen to the readings throughout the day. It all fits perfectly with the reading of The Kite Princess from our first author, Juliet Clare Bell (preferably Clare). Asking for help from her young audience, four fame-thirsty girls jump onto the stage. Cinnamon Stich, our kite princess, is a princess with a difference. Instead of sticking to her regal expectations, like deportment (walking around with a book on her head), she prefers to cartwheel through puddles and dance with cats covered in fleas, which the four girls demonstrate with youthful elegance, kind of. I don’t want to ruin the ending, as it is a book I would recommend for your little ones, so I’ll say only this. The story is funny; filled with rhymes, illustrations and loads of flyaway kites.

Before Clare starts to read her second book, Don’t Panic Annika, she tells the audience the book is based on her daughter, and asks if we can imagine what her name might be. "Pannicka," one girl shouts out. So close. She brings out bubbles and as she blows them over the captivated children, Clare explains how her ideas are exactly like these magical spheres; they come in plenty, but if she doesn’t write them down in time, they pop and disappear.

There’s a brief interval between readings and we all herd into the adjoining room where stalls have been set up for us to cut and stick and colour and scribble. A cordial or orange juice gets chugged, then back to the banqueting room to secure a place for the next event; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. 

Seating herself on one side of the stage is the wicked White Witch with her servant, called Servant, close by. At the other sits the little girl Lucy. The White Witch explains where she has come from, the land where it’s always winter, but there's never a Christmas. Not a good way to start, as the children turn upon her with their roar of "boooos"! Nevertheless, the Witch remains seated, untharwted by the sons and daughters of Adam, continuing with the story. Children are appointed the role of each of the children in the play, one is Mr Tumnus, another a key holder and another… binoculars holder. I get distracted for a second by a baby on the next aisle blowing raspberries to a family behind her, but I’m reeled quickly back in to the story with the White Witch offering to put Turkish Delight into our Christmas stockings. Who in their right mind would want that in their stocking? Ugh. We don’t have time to read the entire book, but what we have heard today has certainly whetted our curiosity with what will happen to Lucy and her siblings.

I missed the dinnertime hour with CBeebies presenters Cerrie Burnell and Alex Winters (I was having my dinner, but you can read a report by one of the Festival's Young Digital Reporters here), but I made it back in time for an author I was very curious about. Tom Palmer has written many series based on the theme of football; The Squad, Foul Play and Football Academy are just a few of them. My knowledge of football is zilch, but I wanted to know more about these stories. Tom tells us that he was not into reading when he was younger. His mother knew he liked football, so she told him to read articles about it in the newspaper and magazines. He did, and now he just loves books, which is why he became an author. He now has a dream job where he travels around the world speaking to footballers, getting inspiration for his stories.

The hour will be split into two parts. First half: The Football Reading Game 2012; second half: penalty shoot-out (don’t worry, old building, it’s a sponge ball). Tom’s first question is what type of books/magazines/newspapers do we like reading. Some say sport, others say murder and mystery, one boy says, “adverts about food and sofas”. Tom then begins quizzing us on recent titles of newspaper articles in the sport section. Hands are up and the answers are all correct. I’m feeling like I’ve just flown into the Bermuda Triangle. Discussing what magazines we like to read, he shows us a football magazine called FourFourTwo. Tom asks if we know why the magazine is called this, and I start counting on my fingers how many members should be on a team, when a kid, who is barely past the age of six, shouts, "It’s a formation!" I’m ashamed. Now it’s the turn for our favourite books. The variety is impressive; Roald Dahl, The Hunger Games, first person narratives with present tense, even autobiographies. These kids are on top of their game.

Q&A session now and Tom is answering one boy about his question on where to publish his books. He started small and would send them to our local publishers, Comma Press. When he began to get more confidence, he started working on novels and they were published by Puffin. In response to another question, Tom gives us the title of his next book, A Ghost Stadium, a story about a stadium that is haunted. I’m learning that his books aren’t just about football; there are crime cases, a Russian billionaire murderer and family issues too. Ending this unexpectedly interesting session, Tom offers his tips for writing: write about something you love, read lots and never give up. He puts his books to one side and chooses some members from the audience for a penalty shoot-out.

Today was a great event and it sure proved to be popular with the children and a relief for the adults. 

Kevin Danson is an English Literature student at MMU. Read his blog Pebbleddash and follow him on Twitter @pebbleddash.

There's another review of this event on the Bookwitch blog.

Real fantasies

Adam Marek & Guy Ware, Sunday 21st October, 3pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Words and photograph by David Hartley.

A small but attentive crowd gathered at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation for a late Sunday afternoon reading by two of Comma’s regular anthology contributors, Guy Ware and Adam Marek. Both men had new merchandise to peddle in the shape of Ware’s You Have 24 Hours to Love Us (which is available electronically now, and in print very soon) and Marek’s The Stone Thrower, both of which snug nicely into the ever-burgeoning Comma canon. The backdrop of the converted mill, with its Burgess-adorned walls and shelves, lent itself perfectly to the tales presented by Ware and Marek, treading as they both did along the precarious threshold of realism and fantasy, a realm where Burgess himself was often to be found.

Recovering civil servant Guy Ware stepped up for the first reading, presenting his story In Plain Sight, from which the title of his collection is taken. It's a curious and gripping spy story which seemed to develop sideways from wherever you might have expected it to go. Stan is a shunned spy, living out a sleeper existence atop a mountain among a quiet idyll of chickens and watercress, but the governments he is bound to will not accept that he might not love them and he has 24 hours to confirm it either way. Ware expertly weaves in the absurdity of darkly humorous psychological warfare, while pulling the audience through the pain of Stan’s tricky love life. It triggered more than a few ripples of laughter in the room as well as some uncomfortable squirms from Ware’s own offspring sitting on the front row. But if this story is anything to go by, go buy the whole collection, dear reader, because it won’t disappoint.

Adam Marek took over the spotlight to read from his latest collection, and picked a short story that was able to promote not one anthology, but two; a marketing simultaneity that must have pleased the powers-that-be at Comma. Entitled An Industrial Evolution, the story is featured in The Stone Thrower but also in Comma’s latest science-meets-fiction anthology Bio-Punk, the launch of which took place at this very festival earlier in the week. Marek’s brief here was to write a story based on a real and current development in the field of biotechnology, focusing particularly on the ethical dilemma such advances might present, should they come to fruition. Marek met with Professor Bruce Whitelow from The Rosalin Institute at the University of Edinburgh and travelled to the murky outer-edge of current concepts in cloning technology, which, apparently in a very real sense, could lead to trans-species fertilisation. Which is my own cod-science and probably incorrect way of saying: one animal giving birth to a completely different animal. And while we all started picturing mice-elephants and cat-dogs, Marek launched into his own interpretation of the science, which was all the more measured and profound.

The story took us a short punt into the future and then deep into the dark heart of the Sumatran jungle to encounter Orangutans saved from the brink of extinction by these posited advancements in cloning. And yet it soon becomes apparent that the majestic great apes are not quite what they once were; the first one encountered in the story is wearing denim shorts and proceeds to fist-bump one of the main characters. But things take a more melancholic turn later as Marek weaves in his research of the plantations of Sumatra, and we find the science and the apes rendered in a more discomforting and disquieting scene. One can’t help images of Planet of the Apes and its myriad prequels and sequels floating in after reflection, but Marek is an expert at handling his material at the correct distance and leaving us with painfully real thoughts, over and above fanciful fantasies. So while not exactly a soaring endorsement of the science explored, the story served its purpose as marketing for its host anthology, and I promptly parted with my cash for a copy.

The Q&A post-readings was a delightful affair, with both writers answering the interrogations with good cheer and further anecdote, while the obligatory influences question brought creatives as far ranging as Jose Saramago, Karen Russell and Spike Jonze into the fold. Both Ware and Marek found a symbiosis in the acknowledgement that their writing attempts to mix the real and the fantastic in a happy blend – Marek using the analogy of the demarcation created by oil on water, both elements then emulsified together to make mayonnaise. A nice image, but both writers demonstrated their works and themselves to be far more than mere condiments, and we can all look forward to what will be served up next. 

David Hartley is a blogger and short story writer based in Manchester. He blogs at abarrelroll.blogspot.com and will be publishing his first collection of flash fictions with Gumbo Press later this year. Find him at twitter.com/lonlonranch

You can read more reviews of these events, by students at the Centre for New Writing, on The Manchester Review.  

Drinking in the culture

Boho Literary Pub Walk, Saturday 20th October, 5pm

Words by Jennie Shorley.

It is that most rare and precious of times in our fair city: a warm and sunlit evening. I feel free to use the word dappled, regarding sunlight through leaves. The Midland Hotel, our grand dame, greets the sun as prodigal, its russet stone glows. But enough of all that - me and about 500 people (38) are here for a tour. It is a sold out MLF event, and the crowd includes even more chancers, hoping for cancellations.

Ed Glinert is our guide. From extensive research, I know that he started City Life, our city’s sadly demised magazine, so he has a tick in the Manchester-knowledge box. We are led to the back of the Midland, me suddenly realising that standing/walking and writing is quite tricky. Ed outlines the walk: “We have a few stories, we go to a pub, we have a drink.” Nice. Apparently each pub will have “some kind of tenuous literary theme”.  Just how tenuous?

We turn our attention to the Midland, and to Anthony Burgess receiving the Portico Prize here in 1989, again all fine Manchester institutions. The prize money of £1,500 was apparently an insult to Burgess. We move swiftly on, across the road, Manchester Central, and the Peterloo Massacre, 16th August 1819, where 70,000 protesters gathered from the 100 cotton mills within 10 minutes of this spot, to demand parliamentary representation. There was “no disturbance until the authorities intervened”, killing 18 and injuring 700. The Mask of Anarchy is devoted to the massacre, and was suppressed by the publisher until those involved had died. As trams rattle past, it is strangely atmospheric here, with Shelley for company.

We turn from an exhibition centre to another hotel, the Radisson, “built out of the shell of the Free Trade Hall”. Glinert reads Howard Jacobson’s rich description of the hall’s musical performances, which made Manchester “once rival to Berlin and Vienna”, then we move on to the Bridgewater Hall (below), where he reads again from Jacobson: “the location has no soul… you are not sitting where great orators and agitators once sat”, referring to the erstwhile Free Trade Hall again.

Next, we have a great literary daughter to discuss. Standing on (nearly in, at a few points) the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, next to a beautiful old mill, the atmosphere is recaptured with some Elizabeth Gaskell, always good for a tale of grimy working life. And Mary Barton is fairly grimy, as Glinert reads descriptions of the working people pouring from smoke-soaked mills. Gaskell so shocked the sensibilities of the middle classes that she wrote anonymously, and, when found out, had to hide in London. So, in North and South, Manchester is called Milton. Cunning.

Next, the pub. As the group is so huge, it strangely splits in two, for a trip to the beautiful but tiny Peveril of the Peak, and the externally lovely, but internally generic, Rain Bar. With only my notepad for company, I feel a bit of a loner at this point. Half a bitter and some McCoys are good fare, but the tour seems slow to start again. Momentum seems a little lost. We gather at the Pev, for tales of Walter Scott’s longest novel, Peveril of the Peak, not about this pub, but about the fastest stagecoach from Manchester to London: 11 hours. And Rain Bar? “No literary connection at all.”

Down to the canal again - underneath our city’s streets lie these labyrinthine waterways, evocative of Gaskell’s Manchester. We stop in an alleyway behind the Ritz to read some John Copper Clarke – Salomey Maloney. I love this one, read as the cries of ambulances float on the streets above us. Back on Oxford Road, and the serenity of the canals is broken. I smell McDonald's, I see United fans. We pause at the Central Library, cloaked in scaffolding, before moving to Albert Square and the council’s plans to cover Library Walk, which surely all of Manchester feels is wrong.

From here we go to Bootle Street Police Station, where Jimi Hendix was searched for drugs in 1966, George Orwell came to get a solicitor to help him cash a cheque on his way to Wigan Pier and Brendan Behan was brought when entering England after a ban; accusations of terrorism. My favourite part of this section is a passerby, possibly tired and emotional, shouting: “What are you all protesting about?” This would have to be the most polite protest in history, but it evokes the Manchester spirit!

To the second pub, The Ralph Abercrombie, the only surviving building from the Peterloo Massacre in the city centre, though you’d never know it from the inside. Again half the people are shipped off to the The Nags Head, and we lose a few to the night. When we reconvene in a dark car park, we quickly visit the John Rylands Library then the grave of the de Quincey family outside St Ann’s Church. We end with Thomas de Quincey’s wonderfully named Confessions of an English Opium Eater (who knew the Window Cleaner films had such a literary forerunner), and Anthony Burgess’s claim that he was the descendant of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Possibly after a few in Tom’s Chop House.

It’s been an interesting tour, possibly slightly disjointed, which was partly due to the numbers of literary boozehounds! I stalk off into the night, full of ale and crisps, and opium. 

Jennie Shorley Carling has degrees in Classics and Ancient History, and works for MMU Business School. She is currently undertaking a PhD and likes writing words and making things. She Tweets @JSho_CfE.

Urban explorers

Manchester Letters (3.30pm) and Tramlines (5pm), Saturday 20th October, International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Words by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.

These two events were almost companion pieces, each featuring two writers: one from the north west of England and the other from abroad. In the instance of Manchester Letters, it's Chorley's Jenn Ashworth and Istanbul (now Barcelona)'s Nermin Yildirin (pictured below), who have been corresponding about the writing life and writing process for a number of months and who, like all good penpals, have become great mates. Their friendship was recently cemented when Jenn went to a corresponding book festival in Turkey and the pair met for the first time: "The sense of affinity was real," she says. And they genuinely do get on - and are spotted chatting and laughing together over a glass of wine before the next event starts.

The next event is Tramlines, a Comma Press and Literature Across Frontiers project which saw Michelle Green go off and explore Zagreb in Croatia and Roman Simic, relay style, come over here to ride the rails and produce a story. The experiment has been repeated between three other pairs of writers and their tram-networked cities; the fiction journeys through each are due to be published as a phone application in April, with both audio and text versions to be experienced by audiences following in the footsteps of the writers and taking the same trajectory.

Manchester Letters is currently ongoing, with a couple of missives still to exchange hands, and both Jenn and Nermin explain how enjoyable the project has been, finding out about each other and about the similar processes they experience as writers. Writing to Nermin, says Jenn, cured her of "that post-novel malaise" (she's just finished drafting her third novel The Friday Gospels), and she appreciated the opportunity of going to the Turkish literature festival as it showed how all writers are in the same boat: "There were lots of Dutch writers as well as Turkish, and it was like we were all working at the same desk."

They chat about language and translation, then discuss writing about place. Nermin says: "If Istanbul was a character, it would be bigger than my own character." Jenn's novels are all set in Lancashire: the latest being Chorley. Her debut, A Kind Of Intimacy, is set in Fleetwood, and she says: "People in Fleetwood are probably a bit annoyed with me. It's about the disappointment. For people who know Fleetwood, they know it's not like Blackpool." Her second novel, Cold Light, is based in Preston. "I added a bit of violence to the geography... it's a Preston that's superimposed onto the real place." Still, how important is it to portray facts or reality accurately in fiction, they're asked. Nermin replies: "I am creating my own story - I see things from my own perspective", and Jenn agrees: "Neither of us are setting ourselves up as historians or scientists."

The Tramlines event continues to explore the importance of place in fiction. Michelle's story, In Zero Gravity, follows a woman taking a tram journey across Zagreb, passing the park with the zoo, musing about the Nine Views art installation's planet earth stuck to the side of a bank. But while the Croatian capital and the minute detail of the tram interior and fellow passengers provide the main backdrop, the woman is also thinking about the "photos of places that look like sand" that "he" sends from Sudan, so there's an extra layer of location. In The Boy Who Knew No Fear, Roman offers up snapshots of Manchester life, but he found that "The city's bigger than the tram", and he goes off the grid and to places not connected by the Metrolink network, such as Moss Side.

Of the exchange experience, Michelle says: "It's like being taken around a city by a friend", and she reveals she did start to feel at home there, or at least an affinity to the place, accidentally saying "Croatia!" instead of "thank you!" in shops; some kind of psychological slip? When asked by chair, and Comma Press editor, Jim Hinks whether either of them felt as if they'd lost or relinquished ownership of their cities, Roman says it was really the opposite: "Michelle revealed part of my city to me."

Sarah-Clare Conlon is a freelance writer, editor and press officer. Her award-winning blog, Words & Fixtures, is about language, literature, arts and culture.

You can read more reviews of these events, by students at the Centre for New Writing, on The Manchester Review.