Manchester’s celebrated spoken word maestros Bad Language returns in October for another wild night of live literature. Bad Language will once again team up with the Cultural Welcome to bring another stellar line-up of poets, novelists and everything in-between. We’ll have a fabulous headliner, and there will be open mic slots available too. Bad Language […]
Auris brings a new listening experience to Manchester as the city’s first dedicated sound art festival. It invites us to tune into our sense of sound, bringing people together through an artistic programme that presents new ideas, uncovers histories and challenges perspectives. Taking place across four venues along Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor from 9-11 October, […]
An evening of eclectic piano music centered around the experience of motion and stillness. Programme Albeniz – Evocación, El Puerto Mompou – Paisajes (La Fuente ya la Campana, El Lago, Carros de Galicia) Janacek – On an Overgrown Path Book II [Intermission] Sol – Little Fishy Upstream Swimming, Sideways Uematsu, Hamauzu – Selections from Final […]
Mitch Benn is Asking Elvis The King is back! Mitch Benn resurrects Elvis from BBC Radio 2’s legendary “Steve Wright in the Afternoon” show, to answer hunks of burning questions about life, death, cheeseburgers and everything in between… including the story of how Mitch managed to be possibly the most popular thing on the most […]
Umberto Eco in Britain
The premiere of Unavoidable Happenings, a song cycle on the poetry of Anthony Burgess by Canadian composer and pianist Michael Rose. The work speaks, with some of Burgess’s trademark humour, of scenes of life over which is cast the shadow of entropy. It is an exploration of life’s unavoidable happenings – and inevitable decay. Pianist […]
Author, poet and unashamed bookshop fan Robin Ince brings an evening of excellent blather to Manchester, to celebrate the release of his poetry collection Let The Quiet Ones Rise. Robin is multi award-winning comedian, author, broadcaster, bibliomaniac and a populariser of scientific ideas. He has done radio, standup comedy, and has previously written five acclaimed […]
Ask anyone: Ólöf Arnalds can mesmerise a room with nothing but a small guitar and her distinctive soprano voice. Across five albums in nearly twenty years, her gently plucked guitar, charango, violin and koto have provided the bedrock for vivid narrations straddling the mundane and mythological, sketching out rich emotional territories often concerned with love–equal […]
The deadline is approaching for the 2026 Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism. This annual competition aims to discover the best new writing in arts journalism. Entrants are asked to write a review of a new work in the arts. The maximum length is 800 words, and there is a prize fund of £4,000 […]
Mitch Benn is bringing his sold-out show A Christmas Carol, continuing Charles Dickens’ tradition of performing the text live, and using Dickens’ original abridged text, let Mitch immerse you in the Christmas spirit with the beloved classic! Come and live the magic of Christmas. This is a family show. The show lasts for 70 minutes […]