This year’s Festival of Libraries is headlined by Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Poet Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who will be joined by a host of authors, poets, historians, performers and more.

After winning Best Event at the Manchester Culture Awards in 2024, this will be the Festival’s fifth year.

Creative Manchester has curated a series of six free events for the Festival programme, showcasing our research, in partnership with the Centre for New Writing, Linguistic Diversity Collective and Manchester Histories.

Writing for Wellbeing workshops will see poets from the Centre for New Writing run three sessions at Middleton, Oldham and Walkden libraries, exploring how creative writing can positively impact wellbeing.

At Bolton Central Library, Manchester Histories and Creative Manchester will unveil their new Heritage for Wellbeing Toolkit, sharing insights into the toolkit’s development and inviting attendees to participate in one of the activities firsthand.

The Linguistic Diversity Collective have two workshops on offer. ‘What’s in a word, and what’s in a dictionary?’ will look at how dictionaries define words, and will take place at new Festival partner Manchester Cathedral Library.

‘Blackout the Jargon’ is a session of blackout poetry at Cheadle Library, inviting attendees to find art and meaning in scientific texts.

Find out more about the University’s Festival of Libraries workshops and book your free places by visiting Eventbrite.

This year will be the 9th International Mother Language Day observed in Greater Manchester, a celebration of the cultural diversity and vast number of languages spoken across the city region.

Creative Manchester, one of the University’s research platforms, will offer a series of events to mark the occasion in collaboration with partners and colleagues. All events are free to book and all are welcome.

• 19 February 2025 – The power of language: Creating Manchester memories - Hear from researchers, poets and collaborators about how they came together in the aftermath of the pandemic to create a book capturing local communities' experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. This event will be held at Contact Theatre at 12pm.
• 21 February 2025 – Not all accents are created equal – A talk by the Linguistic Diversity Collective's Dr Alex Baratta on accentism within British teacher training, held at Manchester Museum at 12pm.
• 21 February 2025 – Looking for languages - A language themed trail around Manchester Museum offering visitors of all ages a chance to learn about and celebrate languages and multilingualism. The trail is held in partnership with the Linguistic Diversity Collective and Manchester Museum and takes place from 1pm.

To find out more about International Mother Language Day and the city’s celebrations, visit the Manchester City of Literature website.

Events took place on campus at the Martin Harris Centre, including an in-conversation with former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, an evening with award-winning cook and food writer Meera Sodha, and a very special appearance by poet Jackie Kay who read from her latest collection. 

Over at Central Library, Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan joined us to discuss his latest novel Caledonian Road, and legendary music producer Joe Boyd celebrated his engrossing new book And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey through Global Music. 

Foreign correspondent Lindsay Hilsum joined Creative Manchester director John McAuliffe to share some of her favourite poems and memories from her decades-long career, and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers went on to bookend the Festival with his recent event on 8 November in support of his new novel. 

HOME was host to David Peace, discussing his gripping new novel Munich, and to George Monbiot’s event, hosted by Professor of New Writing Jeanette Winterson, in support of his passionately argued new book, The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life). 

Prolific designer Thomas Heatherwick joined Ella P. Wakatama at Contact to talk about his book Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World and putting the human emotion at the heart of building design. At John Rylands Research Institute and Library, former National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke ran a highly anticipated poetry workshop, then went on to deliver the annual Rylands Poetry Reading to a sold-out crowd. 

Festival attendees at the Royal Northern College of Music enjoyed an audience with bestselling global sensation and Yellowface author Rebecca F. Kuang, hosted by broadcaster, producer and Chair of Manchester City of Literature Katie Popperwell. 

For more information about the festival, visit the Manchester Literature Festival website.

Creative Manchester – the University’s creativity-championing research platform – hosted five workshop sessions in partnership with the Centre for New Writing, Programme in American Studies, and Linguistic Diversity Collective.

‘Writing for Wellbeing’ took place at Tameside, Rochdale and Bury Libraries on 13 - 15 June. Facilitators Rebecca Hurst, Tessa Harris and John McAuliffe worked with participants to explore the benefits of creative writing on personal wellbeing. 

One attendee commented:

‘Tasting Children’s Literature – An Edible Readathon’ returned on Friday, 14 June with two sessions: a private workshop for Reception children at St. Andrew’s C of E Primary School Levenshulme, held at Arcadia Library, and a public session at Manchester Central Library. Children enjoyed a storytime session with play food, colouring activities, and fruits to eat.

The Linguistic Diversity Collective held two well-attended workshops at The Portico Library on 12 and 14 June. The first, ‘What’s in a word and what’s in a dictionary?’ saw attendees take part in activities looking at how dictionaries define words and phrases. 

‘Blackout the jargon’ then invited participants to engage with scientific literature in a unique way through blackout poetry. 

Supported by Arts Council England, the Festival of Libraries 2024 was a testament to Manchester’s enduring commitment to literacy, learning, and inclusivity. 

Find out more about the Festival of Libraries here.

From 12-16 June 2024, Greater Manchester will once again celebrate the Manchester City of Literature Festival of Libraries – which promises a rich tapestry of vibrant events for all ages and interests.

Authors, poets, performers, artists and historians will share their love for libraries and literature across the region’s libraries. The Festival of Libraries programme is brimming with imagination and attendees can expect exhibitions, author talks, performances, installations, live music, workshops, and international collaborations. 

These free events highlight the diverse offerings of libraries, showcasing their role as service, learning and creativity hubs which are open to all.

Creative Manchester is delighted to be offering a series of workshops for the Festival of Libraries celebrations, partnering with the Centre for New Writing, Linguistic Diversity Collective and Programme in American Studies.

All workshops are free to attend but booking is required due to limited spaces.

What’s in a Word, and What’s in a Dictionary?: 

This session delves into the meanings of everyday words and idiomatic phrases, offering insights into how dictionaries define words and how language learners acquire vocabulary. Run by the Linguistic Diversity Collective. 

• Wednesday, 12 June 2024, 3pm - Portico Library

Writing for Wellbeing Workshops: 

Facilitated by professional writers from the Centre for New Writing, these workshops explore the positive effects of creative writing on mental health and wellbeing. 

• Thursday, 13 June 2024, 6pm - Ashton Library 
• Friday, 14 June 2024, 1pm – Heywood Library
• Saturday, 15 June 2024 – Ramsbottom Library

Blackout the Jargon: 

Participants will engage in blackout poetry, finding meaning in scientific texts by selecting certain words and redacting the rest to create literary and visual works of art. Run by the Linguistic Diversity Collective. 

• Friday, 14 June 2024, 3pm - Portico Library

Tasting Children’s Literature – An Edible Readathon: 

An immersive experience and read-a-thon of classic and contemporary children’s literature aimed at young children aged 0-8. Run by the Programme in American Studies staff and students. 

• Sunday, 16 June 2024, 1pm - Central Library

One in Ten: 

An immersive audio experience allowing listeners to walk in the footsteps of those with the misunderstood condition of chronic cough. Run by the ‘Let’s Talk About Cough’ project. 

• Wednesday, 12 June 2024, 12pm, 2pm and 6pm – Longsight Library
• Thursday, 13 June 2024, 12pm and 2pm – Longsight Library

More information on the Festival of Libraries 2024, including the full programme, can be found on the Manchester City of Literature website. 

This year will be the 8th International Mother Language Day observed in Manchester, a celebration of the cultural diversity and the near 200 languages spoken across the city.

Creative Manchester has coordinated with partners and colleagues from the Linguistic Diversity Collective, Manchester Museum, Sheffield Hallam University and the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival to present events including:

• Wednesday 21 February, all day - Comics Up Close conference - Origin Stories at Sheffield Hallam University
• Wednesday 21 February, 1pm-2pm – The Language of Life – Biochemical Etymology workshop at Manchester Museum
• Wednesday 21 February, 1pm-4pm - Looking for Languages: Half-term family trail around Manchester Museum

Running alongside the Comics Up Close conference at Sheffield Hallam University is the ‘Collectives for Change’ exhibition, showcasing the thriving new comic movement across the Arab world. 

We are delighted to also be hosting this exhibition here at The University of Manchester. 

You can view the exhibition in the Samuel Alexander Building glass corridor exhibition space, between 19 February-18 March 2024.

The full programme of IMLD 2024 events can be found on the Manchester City of Literature website.

Creative Manchester – the University’s creativity-championing research platform – offered five workshop sessions in partnership with the Centre for New Writing, Programme in American Studies and Linguistic Diversity Collective.

‘Writing for Wellbeing’ took place at Marple and Chetham Libraries on 7 and 8 June. Facilitators from the Centre for New Writing, Dr Rebecca Hurst and Tessa Harris, worked with participants to explore the benefits of creative writing on personal wellbeing.

Also at Chetham’s Library, ‘What’s in a word, and what’s in a dictionary?’ saw the workshop group work with staff from the Department of Linguistics and English Language to look at how we define the meanings of words.

‘Tasting Children’s Literature – An edible readathon’ ran for two sessions: a private session for EYFS children at St Andrew’s C of E Primary School Levenshulme, at Arcadia Library, and a session open to the public, at Manchester Central Library. Children enjoyed a story time session with play food, colouring activities and fruits to eat.

The Manchester City of Literature Schools Writing Trail, overseen by Creative Manchester research fellow, Dr Chad Campbell, is also currently being hosted on campus and can be found in the glass corridor exhibition space in Samuel Alexander Building.

This year’s Festival of Libraries was a huge success and has been nominated for a Saboteur Award in the category of Best Literary Festival.

Find out more about the Festival of Libraries.

Following the success of the past two years of celebrations, the 2023 festival showcases a vibrant programme of events in libraries across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Creative Manchester – the University’s creativity-championing research platform - is delighted to be offering several workshop sessions in partnership with the Centre for New Writing, Linguistic Diversity Collective and Programme in American Studies.

Writers from the Centre for New Writing will be facilitating a ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ workshop which explores how creative writing can have positive effects on mental health and wellbeing. ‘What’s in a word, and what’s in a dictionary?’ is a session run by the Linguistic Diversity Collective exploring the meanings of everyday words and idiomatic phrases. ‘Tasting children’s literature – An edible readathon’ is presented by academics and students in the Programme in American Studies and offers an immersive experience and readathon of classic children’s literature aimed at young children and their parents.

All workshops are free to attend but booking is required due to very limited spaces.

Writing for Wellbeing

• 7 June 2023 – Marple Library – 12pm-2pm
• 8 June 2023 – Chetham’s Library – 12pm-2pm

What’s in a word, and what’s in a dictionary?

• 9 June 2023 – Chetham’s Library – 11am-12pm

Tasting children’s literature – an edible readathon

• 11 June 2023 – Manchester Central Library – 12.30pm-1.30pm

Festival of Libraries is funded by Arts Council England and enjoys the support and collaboration of authors, artists and creatives, who all believe in the vital community and cultural role of libraries.

Find out more, including the full Festival of Libraries programme.

Families were invited to collect their ‘Looking for Languages’ trail sheets from members of the Linguistic Diversity Collective, find the language-related items and take part in associated activities - including writing your name in hieroglyphs, learning about palindromes and roaring like a dinosaur. Children received a ‘language detective’ badge after completing the trail.

The Linguistic Diversity Collective designed the trail, in partnership with Research Platform Creative Manchester and Manchester Museum, to encourage children to think about their own language and explore areas of linguistics in a fun and engaging way.

“We loved hunting the artifacts, thank you,” wrote Noah, who followed the trail with his brother Elias.

Parents who visited commented, “It’s guided very well, kids were engaged,” and “My 6-year-old daughter learnt a lot through the activity sheet and was interested in how to say a word in different languages.”

To keep up to date with activities run by the Linguistic Diversity Collective, which is part of the Department of Linguistics and English Language, you can sign up to their mailing list.

A new video podcast exploring multilingualism and linguistic diversity across the globe has launched, as part of Manchester City of Literature’s International Mother Language Day 2023 celebrations.

The podcast is hosted by Lecturer in Linguistics at The University of Manchester and current lead of the Linguistic Diversity Collective, Dr Serge Sagna. Dr Sagna has been active in contributing to, initiating and spearheading language revitalisation activities by using audio-visual media and producing literacy materials. He has previously organised and hosted a radio show in endangered language Eegimaa, and now brings his media skills to the ‘Multilingual World’ series.

‘Multilingual World’ features Dr Sagna in conversation with leading academics, and in future, multilingual speakers living in Manchester will also be invited to discuss their relationship with their languages, their sense of identity and their experience learning, transmitting, and using languages in their life in the city of Manchester.

On why he started the podcast, Dr Sagna says: “We all have one or more languages, spoken or signed, and everyone has an opinion about language. There is no education without language; no socio-economic development without language; no meaningful political stability without good language management.”

Two episodes are currently available:

• Episode 1 - Multilingualism in Manchester, with Dr Leonie Gaiser
• Episode 2 – Indigenous languages and revitalization, with Prof Gabriela Peréz Baéz (including a discussion on International Mother Language Day)

The podcast production is supported by the Creative Manchester Research Platform.

You can visit and subscribe to the Multilingual World YouTube channel here.

This year will be the 7th International Mother Language Day observed in Manchester, a celebration of the cultural diversity and the near 200 languages spoken across the city.

Creative Manchester has coordinated with partners and colleagues from the Linguistic Diversity Collective, Manchester Museum, Sheffield Hallam University and the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival to present the following events:

• 21 February, 10am-5pm - Comics Up Close conference: New perspectives in Comics 2023
• 12 April, 1pm-5pm - Looking for Languages: Half-term family trail around Manchester Museum

The full programme of IMLD 2023 events can be found on the Manchester City of Literature website.

‘Supporting Manchester’s language communities: Language endangerment and maintenance’ included a cross-disciplinary panel and marked the official launch of the Linguistic Diversity Collective. The event was well attended by University staff, students and members of the public both in-person and via Zoom.

The panel discussed key themes relating to the endangerment and maintenance of languages from a range of perspectives.

Panellists included:

• Chair: Dr Serge Sagna, Lecturer in Linguistics at The University of Manchester
• Julia Sallabank, Professor of Language Policy and Revival at SOAS
• John Claughton of the World of Languages, Languages of the World initiative
• John Wilson of World of Languages, Languages of the World and Head of Modern Languages at Cheadle Hulme School
• Munira Alsusa, headteacher of Manchester Arabic School

The Linguistic Diversity Collective (LDC) is a group of academics in the Departments of Linguistics and English Language and Modern Languages and Cultures who research and champion linguistic diversity both locally and globally.

Find out more about the Linguistic Diversity Collective here.

The Linguistic Diversity Collective and Creative Manchester present a free event taking place on 19 October at 5.30pm in the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School penthouse event space.

‘Supporting Manchester’s language communities: Language endangerment and maintenance’ includes a cross-disciplinary panel and Q&A session, language activity stands and a drinks reception. The event is open to all University staff, students and members of the public.

This is a hybrid event and can be attended in person or via Zoom. In-person attendees will be welcomed with a wine/beer/soft drink reception, a goodie bag and the opportunity to take part in language activity stalls.

The panel will explore key themes relating to the endangerment and maintenance of languages from a range of perspectives, will discuss the importance of multilingualism and intergenerational transmission among different communities in Manchester and will address questions including the following:

• How do languages die?
• What is lost when a language dies and why should we care?
• How can languages be maintained in traditional and in urban contexts such as Manchester?
• What is the impact of multilingualism on language endangerment and language maintenance?

Panellists include:

• Chair: Dr Serge Sagna, Lecturer in Linguistics at The University of Manchester
• Julia Sallabank, Professor of Language Policy and Revival at SOAS
• John Claughton of the World of Languages, Languages of the World initiative
• John Wilson of World of Languages, Languages of the World and Head of Modern Languages at Cheadle Hulme School
• Munira Alsusa, headteacher of Manchester Arabic School

Places are free and can be booked here via Eventbrite.

15-19 June 2022 saw the return of Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries. 

Following the success of last year’s inaugural celebration, the 2022 festival showcased a vibrant and varied programme of 80 events in libraries across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Creative Manchester – the University’s creativity-championing research platform – offered seven workshop sessions in partnership with the Centre for New Writing and the Linguistic Diversity Collective.

Professional writers from the Centre for New Writing facilitated a series of ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ workshops which explored how creative writing can have positive effects on mental health and wellbeing. ‘Have you seen my duckling? – Storytime in mother languages’ was run by the Linguistic Diversity Collective for parents and caregivers from minority language backgrounds and their young children, encouraging shared book reading and building a narrative around a wordless picture book.

The workshops were well received and rated highly, with attendees of Writing for Wellbeing commenting, “A really good session that got me thinking, a very good facilitator,” and “I really enjoyed the session.” 

‘Have you seen my duckling’ attracted parents and caregivers with over 12 languages spoken between them. One attendee commented that “it was amazing to have a chat with a Professor of Linguistics.” 

The workshops took place in several libraries in the Greater Manchester area. 

Find out more here.

The Department of Linguistics and English Language are hosting a special conference next week: a joint event combining the 29th annual meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA) and the ninth edition of the TripleA workshop for semantic fieldworkers. This TripleAFLA virtual conference will take place from the 28th of June to the 1st of July 2022.

The Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA) dates back to an initial meeting at the University of Toronto in 1994. Since then, the association has promoted the formal study of Austronesian languages, including, but not limited to, their phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. 

The TripleA workshop series for semantic fieldworkers was founded in 2014 by linguists from Potsdam and Tübingen with the aim of providing a platform for researchers who conduct theoretically-informed linguistic fieldwork that investigates meaning. Its focus is particularly on languages that are under-represented in the current research landscape.

You can find out more and register for free on the TripleAFLA website.

A new initiative in the Department of Linguistics and English Language has recently launched.

 The Linguistic Diversity Collective (LDC) comprises several academics in the department and aims to research and champion linguistic diversity locally and globally through research and public engagement activities.

The LDC will be taking part in two engagement activities in June, both of which are free to attend and open to the public.

Wednesday, 15 June sees a special event for multilingual parents and their young children take place as part of Manchester City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries 2022. ‘Have you seen my duckling? – Storytime in mother languages’ is an interactive session which introduces ways to help parents of minority languages make the most of their local libraries.

 These sessions can be booked online or at the host library:

Wednesday, 15 June 2022 - Storytime in Mother Languages – Leigh Library – 10am

Wednesday, 15 June 2022 - Storytime in Mother Languages – Pendleton Library – 1.30pm

  On Saturday, 25 June, the LDC joins the University’s Community Festival 2022, where participants can interact with activities and explore how they use their own languages and dialects.

 To find out more about the ldc, visit our website.

 You can also follow the LDC on Twitter and Facebook.