Short stories come to life at Selfridges

On a rainy Friday I put on my best coat, straightened my hair and trotted off to a short story reading at Selfridges. I was hoping to look like a glamorous, swishy-haired professional, using my lunch break to feed my brain and not my upper thighs, instead of a late, lazy student.

Three authors, Emma Jane Unsworth, Richard Hirst and Marli Roode each read a short story as part of Selfridges Festival of Imagination. There are events running in Selfridges nation-wide, including Manchester Exchange Square, until 20^th February. They include talks and workshops, covering imagination, science, crafting, dinosaurs, music and art. The Whitworth Art Gallery has curated an exhibition in the store.

At a reading the story becomes more than just words on a page; the story becomes transformed by the room you’re sitting in and the person sitting next to you. An amusing sentence becomes much funnier when you’re laughing with a group of people. Characters are brought to life by a comedy French accent. The slight shake of the authors hand on their papers betrays their nerves and is a reminder that they are putting their lovingly crafted words out into the world to be judged.

The stories were excellent; funny, entertaining, thought provoking. ‘I Arrive First’ by Unsworth was a tale of love, where the protagonists communicated entirely through the titles on book covers, until the closure of their library forced them to speak. Hirst’s ‘Bait’ was a darkly comic narrative, as a man used a Snickers bar and a lobster soup to kill his first and second wives by their respective peanut and shellfish allergies. Roode finished with ‘Animal Sentinel’, a melancholic portrait of the end of a marriage. I left the reading feeling inspired and entertained, an excellent way to fill a rainy lunchtime hour.

Selfridges Festival of Imagination runs until February 20^th. For a list of events, click here.