Tell us a bit about yourself and the roles you have had at the University over the past 20 years

After I finished my master's degree, I worked as a Research Assistant for three years in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. I then joined the Faculty of Life Sciences IT team in a projects and planning support role – it was during this time that I became a PRINCE2 practitioner and developed my project management skills. Following this, I came back to SALC as a project manager of research projects. In parallel, I spent 15 years in self-employed roles – firstly as a freelance web designer, and then 10 years as co-director of an events company. The company stopped operating during the pandemic and it was then that I turned my hand to writing children’s books. In 2022 I began working for Creative Manchester in my current communications and engagement position which brought together the different skillsets I have gained over my career so far.

Looking to the future, what are your plans once you leave the University?

Once I leave the University, I will be taking some time to do the things I find fulfilling and that spur me on creatively – reading, walking, spending time in nature, letting my mind be calm and allowing it to wander. Of course, I hope to get a lot of writing done, and I will be working hard promoting my school and library visits.

After 20 years, what will you miss most about working at the University of Manchester?

I am going to miss my Creative Manchester colleagues so much! I feel very lucky to have spent the past few years with such a lovely group of people. I will also miss seeing the campus in the autumn, when I think it is particularly beautiful, and being able to have a quick look around Manchester Museum or the Whitworth Art Gallery on my lunch break.

What is your favourite Creative Manchester memory?

That’s a tough question as there are lots of lovely memories. Event-wise, probably the Bicentenary weekend, which was a big team effort with a fun atmosphere (and lots of Diet Coke). Another highlight was attending the AMA conferences in Brighton and Edinburgh with the team. Lastly, I have enjoyed working with Manchester Museum and the Linguistic Diversity Collective on developing and promoting a language trail for children.

How has your time with Creative Manchester prepared you for the next phase in your career?

I’ve had the chance to refine my skills in communications and marketing during my time with Creative Manchester, which I will take forward in promoting my books and my school visits.

Finally, what literature is keeping you inspired at the moment?

I am currently halfway through book four of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan – it's a very long series which I should finish in about a year or so. I like to read across different genres, but the world-building found in fantasy really tickles my imagination. I was also recently given a book on the history of vampires, which I know will inspire me for a future project.

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 was 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 collaborated with partners and colleagues to present a series of events to mark the occasion.

In partnership with the Linguistic Diversity Collective and Manchester Museum, a workshop and language themed trail offered visitors of all ages a chance to learn about and celebrate languages and multilingualism. The ‘Language of Life’ workshop, led by Dr Nick Weise and Dr Tine Breban, explored the origins of scientific vocabulary and where the terms we use for chemicals in the body come from. 

The ‘Looking for Languages’ trail gave families the chance to explore Manchester Museum’s exhibits while thinking about languages along the way. Children who took part commented, ‘I enjoyed it because I learned so many different things,’ ‘It was so good,’ and ‘It was fun exploring.’

In partnership with The University of Manchester and Lakes International Comic Arts Festival colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University hosted the annual ‘Comics Up Close’ conference, this year with the theme ‘Origin Stories’ and featuring keynote speakers Dave Gibbons, Steven Appleby and Karrie Fransman. An exhibition, ‘Collectives for Change’, featuring comics from the Arab world, ran alongside the conference. 

This exhibition is also currently hosted at The University of Manchester, in the Samuel Alexander Building’s glass corridor exhibition space, until Friday, 15 March 2024.

To find out more about International Mother Language day and the local celebrations, visit 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.

Poetry 

Poetry by local school children will be on display following the success of MA and PhD student-delivered poetry clinics as part of the annual Schools Poetry Competition in partnership with Creative Manchester, the Centre for New Writing and the Great Science Share for Schools. These poems all reflect on the theme of Climate Change and capture a generation’s fears, passions and frustrations using the magic of words. 

Photography 

The top 30 photos from this year’s International Photography Competition run by the Manchester China Institute in partnership with Creative Manchester and the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures will have a satellite exhibition at University Place, where the public will get the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice Award-winning photo. This year’s theme was ‘The Feeling of Home’ and the 30 shortlisted photos were selected by a panel of expert judges for their composition and storytelling ability. 

Language 

Manchester is a city of many languages and dialects and The Linguistic Diversity Collective is inviting Community Festival attendees to explore how they use their own language by contributing to a linguistic snapshot of the city. There will be family-friendly activities for everyone to participate in which will help to paint a linguistic picture of Manchester. 

Jazz 

At 14.15, a jazz quintet will take to the performance area at University Place to treat attendees to some live music. The audience can listen out for some jazz standards and some improvisation from the ensemble, whose influences include Charlie Parker, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John Scofield, Ari Hoenig and Jaco Pastorius. 

The Community Festival takes place on Saturday 25 June from 11.00 to 16.00 across campus, with SALC’s activities taking place at University Place (aka the Tin Can) on Oxford Road, Manchester. 

Find out more here.  

 platform will highlight and map out expertise, strengths and possible directions at the intersection of AI/data science and languages/linguistics at the University of Manchester.

This highly interdisciplinary area opens up a number of exciting possibilities for research, teaching, knowledge exchange and business engagement. Researchers from across the Digital Futures and Creative Manchester networks will spotlight their research in these areas. 

Speaking at the event will be Dr Colin Bannard, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Dr Andrea Nini, Lecturer in English Language, Dr Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language and Prof Tobias Galla, Professor of Theoretical Physics.

This event is internal, and you can register here. 

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

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

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. ‘Have you seen my duckling? – Storytime in mother languages’ is a session 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.

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

 Writing for Wellbeing Workshops:

• 15 June 2022 – Rochdale – 12pm
• 15 June 2022 – Wigan – 10am
• 16 June 2022 – Stretford – 11am
• 16 June 2022 – Ashton – 6.30pm
• 17 June 2022 – Oldham – 2pm

Storytime in Mother Languages:

• 15 June 2022 – Leigh – 10am
• 15 June 2022 – Pendleton – 1.30pm

Lemn Sissay OBE, University Chancellor and Festival of Libraries ambassador said: "A library is the loudest place on the high street, because books are bursting with very loud ideasI And yet it is where you can go for peace and quiet; amongst all that is happening in our world, peace and quiet has great value. Libraries change the world because people who use libraries change the world. This year’s Festival of Libraries demonstrates throughout its brilliant programme that all ages, all types, all are welcome. Your community. Your library.”

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

• Festival of Libraries

UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.

2022 is the fifth year that Manchester has celebrated International Mother Language Day. The events taking place this year involve libraries, cultural venues, community groups, universities, schools, poets and writers, collaborating and presenting language-focused events for communities across the city.

Civic Engagement is one of the University’s key strategic themes and our creativity-championing research platform Creative Manchester is delighted to be coordinating a number of online events with colleagues from HCRI and the Linguistic Diversity Collective, including:

• 22 February 2-4pm: Mother language(s) from my field site
  Staff and student fieldworkers will present video recordings and photos from their field sites; followed by a discussion of the sociolinguistic setting in which children learn to speak their mother language(s). 
   
• 22 February 7-8.30pm: (Heritage) language learning during and after a global pandemic: a virtual roundtable discussion
  A virtual roundtable discussion on the challenges and opportunities of (heritage) language learning during a global pandemic.
   
• 23 February 3.30-5pm: Kathputli Utsav
  Join us for Kathputli Utsav - A Festival of Traditional Indian Arts. Celebrate cultural and linguistic diversity with the Kathputli Colony, a colony of street performers in Delhi, India.
   
• 24 February 4pm: Explore your own Language – talking about time and space
  This online activity will actively involve speakers of different ages and proficiencies of languages spoken in Manchester - the intended audience are teachers and students at supplementary schools, those attending community centres, and anybody interested in exploring their own language. 

Find out more about International Mother Language Day 2022, including the full programme of events:

• www.manchestercityofliterature.com/project/international-mother-language-day/

Thomas returns to The University of Manchester, where he spent five years as Professor of Musicology and Head of the Division of Art History, Drama and Music. He has also held posts at Bangor University, the University of Frankfurt and the University of Huddersfield.

The role formally began on 1 July and is dedicated to developing and driving strategic decision-making across the School.

Professor Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean of Humanities has said on the appointment: “I look forward to working with Thomas as he returns to Manchester in this new role. I am confident he will build on Alessandro’s many achievements and will lead the School from strength to strength." 

Prior to joining the University for his appointment as Head of School, Schmidt was Visiting Professor at the University of Frankfurt, before moving to the UK in 2005 as Professor and Chair of Music at Bangor University. From 2012, he was Professor of Music at The University of Manchester (later also leading the Division of Art History, Drama and Music), and from 2017 he was Dean of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield.

Thomas studied at the University of Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar in Chapel Hill. His key research interests are in music of the 15th/16th and the 18th/19th centuries.

On his appointment, Professor Schmidt said: "I am delighted to have been appointed as Vice-Dean and Head of School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. I enormously look forward to returning to the institution where I previously spent some of the most fulfilling years of my career; I am honoured and excited to be working with a dedicated team of staff in one of the leading Arts and Humanities schools in the UK, and with the outstanding students it recruits.”

Being Part of the City: Multilingual Manchester was edited by Matylda Wierietielny, a graduate of the University's Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, who created the concept together with the MLM research team.

The film draws on footage collected between 2015 and 2018 at various MLM events. It opens with scenes from the launch event of an online resource on the dialects of Kurdish, created as part of the AHRC funded language documentation project.

It gives a glimpse of the work of Manchester Arabic School, one of a network of schools that form part of MLM's Supplementary School Support Platform, launched in 2017 to assist in the transmission of community and heritage languages.

The video also shows an example of creative engagement in a state school around the topic of languages and art in partnership with Community Rail Lancashire, and captures the atmosphere of Levenshulme Language Day, a family-friendly activity run by MLM in 2015 and again in 2017 to celebrate language diversity.

There are also scenes of MLM's student volunteer activity, which attracts over 100 participants every year, many of whom support English conversation sessions at partner community centres around the city, and from public discussions on the relevant of language provisions in public services.

The commentary addresses the role of expertise in public engagement, the process of reciprocal enquiry involving students and stakeholders, and the pitfalls of researchers providing outreach support and offering a community vision while avoiding the role of service deliverers and advocates/lobbyists.

Multilingual Manchester was founded in 2009-2010 as a unique model that brings together research, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and outreach and public engagement. Its thematic focus is on language diversity in the city.

It runs a cross-Faculty student volunteer scheme and a Faculty-based PhD student placement scheme, and has a strong public engagement portfolio.

MLM aims to raise awareness of language diversity among University staff and students and key stakeholders in the city, and to actively engage with local communities and public service providers around the challenges and opportunities of multilingualism.

It also pilots a model of civic university engagement, by creating a setting in which students and staff contribute to the work of local stakeholders by providing and using this engagement as a fruitful setting to trial research ideas and gain research insights.

More information can be found on the MLM website.

Dr Morley’s popular online phraseology resource tool, the Academic Phrasebank, was created originally to assist non-native researchers to improve their academic writing.

Increasingly, the Academic Phrasebank is used by both non-native and native speakers to improve their writing from various subject areas. Another innovative characteristic is that the Phrasebank is not discipline-specific, ensuring inclusivity for all specialisms.

The Director of the Centre said:

"This is great news and recognition for John but also for the Centre. Coming on top of the British Council visit (the Centre was ranked the #1 University Language Centre in the country), it means that the ULC has real impetus at the moment".

We continue to congratulate Dr John Morley and the rest of the fantastic winners within the University.

• Find out more about the University Language Centre
• Visit The University of Manchester Intellectual Property (UMIP) website

Following the British Council inspection in November 2017, the University Language Centre received ‘strengths’ in 13 out of a possible 14 areas.

To give this context, no other UK University has been judged to have as many strengths and no other Russell Group University has ever been awarded more than 11. Manchester was awarded eight in the previous inspection (2013).

The Director of the Centre, Gavin Dodsworth, said: “We’re making changes to the way that we approach and do things and for outsiders to come in and look around and say we’re on the right lines means everyone (and I mean everyone) should be really proud.

“You don’t do things just because someone will be inspecting you, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy. It’s a cliche, but the report is about everyone they saw at the University, from everyone in the Centre to the Head of School, from the cleaners to the Accommodation Office – they were impressed by both the Centre and also how we fit into the institution as a whole.”

Designed as a Quality Assurance scheme, Accreditation UK is run as a partnership by the British Council and English UK with all universities, colleges and schools eligible for the Scheme.

Find out more about accreditation on the British Council website.

The novel, which is based on a widower returning to his native India, was described by the University’s online arts journal, the Manchester Review, as "a compelling page-turner".

Dr Kalayil was born in Zambia in 1970 where her parents were teachers seconded from Kerala, India. She arrived in the UK aged eighteen and, after graduating, worked all over the world. She now teaches at The University of Manchester's University Language Centre and is currently completing a doctorate in Linguistics.

She lives near Manchester with her husband and two daughters.

The Writers' Guild Award ceremony took place at the College of Physicians in central London, on Monday, 15 January 2018. Amongst the presenters were Paul Merton, Daisy Goodwin, April De Angelis, Helen Lederer, Mata Haggis, Howard Read, Charlie Hardwick, Tony Grisoni, Lisa Evans, Natalie Cutler, Jack Docherty, Brenda Gilhooly and Stefan Booth.

More information:

• Writers Guild Awards