Famous for its eclectic and numerous institutions, the presence of some of the most renowned authors in Britain and, um, loads of people talking about books and stuff over tea, Manchester Literature Festival literally appeals to all ages and there is plenty that will interest students.
For any of you who have just arrived at the university and are doing a Creative Writing degree, I’m afraid our own crème de la crème Martin Amis has fled to other pastures. But don’t reach for the noose just yet, no sir – widely celebrated Irish author Colm Tóibín has taken his place at the university and is dispensing his wisdom at the opening of the festival on 10th October.
Something I’m not going to miss is ‘Crime in a Cold limate’ on 17th October. Scandinavian authors have all come together for a night to discuss the incredibly gripping crime novels that have exploded out of their country in recent years. Anyone who’s partial to a bit of Stieg Larsson or Henning Mankell, or who likes The Killing or the TV adaptation of Wallander (original Swedish version obviously – sod off Kenneth Brannagh) can’t let this little number slip through their fingers.
And remember Anthony Horowitz? He did all those cool Alex Rider books with the gadgets and the flying. Now he’s written a new Sherlock Holmes story that he’s going to talk about on 3rd November – a week or so after the festival ends as a kind of one-off. That might be worth some nostalgia value, and if you didn’t like the whole Robert Downey Jr./ Jude Law thing you can take a punt at this.
There’s so much more than what I’ve just mentioned. I haven’t scraped the surface. I didn’t really even manage to get to the surface. Just have a look on the website. And did I say how cheap all this is? With student discount a lot of the events cost just £3. We’ll be covering this as it happens too, so if anyone wants to go completely free and write a short review of any of the events then look down the page to the ‘Get Involved’ section!
