The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met, the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Bloomsbury Publishing and special guest host Dave Haslam are delighted to present this special event to launch Adam O’Riordan’s first short story collection The Burning Ground.

Adam O’Riordan became the Wordsworth Trust Centre for British Romanticism’s youngest ever poet-in-residence. He has won the Somerset Maugham Award, is Chair of Judges for the annual Manchester Poetry Prize and is the new Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School. In The Burning Ground, an English writer focuses his gaze on America’s West Coast and the charged hum of Venice Beach.

Manchester Writing is a series which explores the techniques authors use when writing. Adam will be reading from his work and in conversation with Dave Haslam. The evening will open with a drinks reception, and copies of The Burning Ground will be available from Blackwell’s bookstall.

“This is a wonderful, beguiling collection of short stories. Written with a cool, knowing lyricism, they haunt and enthral.” – William Boyd

Doors at 6.30pm. This event is free, but booking is essential.