Two compelling and critically acclaimed authors come together to read and discuss fiction that explores how we make – and lose – personal connections and develop character amid the tumult of everyday life. Mary Costello’s first short story collection, The China Factory, was nominated for the 2012 Guardian First Book Award and her debut novel, Academy Street, won Irish Book of the Year. Anne Enright said ‘Costello’s writing has the kind of urgency that the great problems demand’. Stuart Evers’ new book, Your Father Sends His Love, is a collection of  11 unforgettable stories of parental love and parental mistakes that Jenny Offill called ‘thrillingly inventive.’ He is the author of the London Award-winning story collection Ten Stories About Smoking and a novel, If This is Home. They will be in conversation with MLF’s Kate Feld. Tickets available from the Manchester Literature Festival website or 0843 208 0500.