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Summer in the City: June/July 2008.

02 May 2008

Readings and debate showcasing established and emerging writers.

The Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester is pleased to announce that a programme of readings and debate will run over the summer, showcasing established and emerging writers including Martin Amis, Ian McGuire, Neil Rollinson and Joe Stretch.

30 June, 5pm: Neil Rollinson and Joe Stretch, Martin Harris Centre (£3/£2)

2007/8 poet in residence Neil Rollinson's most recent collection, 'Demolition', was published to much acclaim as he joined the Centre in September 2007.  Featuring poems about the deaths of fathers including his own and the poets Neruda, Borges and Vallejo, it also explores the loss of childhood and innocence while maintaining an overriding optimism and humour.

Fiction-writer in residence Joe Stretch was heralded as a 'hot star of 2008' in The Independent's talent issue at the start of the year, and his controversial debut novel, 'Friction', was published in March. The same paper declared that Joe's "...prose is a rhythmic jumble of aphorisms," and that the novel marked "...the arrival of a promising satirist."

23 July, 1pm: Ian McGuire and Michael Symmons Roberts, Manchester Central Library (free and unticketed)

Centre co-director Ian McGuire published his first novel - the contemporary campus tale 'Incredible Bodies' - in 2006. It was described as "...hugely entertaining..." and "...a 21st century Lucky Jim," by The Times, while the Sunday Times found it "...very funny and disconcertingly sad" He is currently putting the finishing touches to his second novel.

Poet, fiction-writer and broadcaster Michael Symmons Roberts won the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award for 'Corpus', and has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize for best collection, and the Griffin International Prize. His second novel, 'Breath', has just been published to wide acclaim, and his new poetry collection will appear in August.

These two events complement the Centre's final Martin Amis public event of this academic year, on Literature and Religion (£5/£3). This takes place at 6.30 on Tuesday 1 July in the Whitworth Hall, and features literary critic James Wood and theologian Professor Graham Ward.

Please book your place at the 30 June and 1 July events by:

The box office is open on weekdays from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, or you can leave a message and one of our colleagues will call you back within these hours.

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Also taking place over the next couple of months:

Eurocultured

Poetry students from the Centre will feature in the Eurocultured street festival on (Bank Holiday) Monday 26 May. They will take part in a live poetry slam at Font Bar on New Wakefield Street from 5-7pm, so please do go along and join the party.

Kaye Mitchell at Queer Up North

The Centre's Lecturer in Contemporary Literature Kaye Mitchell and University colleague and novelist Patricia Duncker will present an event on Lesbian Pulp Fiction, as part of the Queer Up North festival on 15 May.

Tickets for the evening, at Cup cafe on Thomas Street, cost £5, and are available via:

Brian Aldiss and Piers Bizony at Jodrell Bank's First Move 2 festival

On Friday 13 June at 7.30pm Piers Bizony, author of 'The Man Who Ran the Moon', 'Atom' and 'How to Build Your Own Space Ship', will talk about 'The Culture of Spaceflight' in Jodrell Bank's specially-erected literature pavilion.

The following evening at the same time prolific general- and science fiction writer Brian Aldiss will talk about 'Science and Civilisation'.

Tickets for both events are available from:

  • Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre on 01477 571339

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For more information on Centre for New Writing events: