The Manchester Literature Festival is back for another year with some amazing events to come. Running from 11th – 26th October, with events running into November, the Festival offers a unique opportunity for audiences to interact with some of the world’s greatest writers. Set in literary venues across Manchester, every event is an opportunity to share your passion for literature whilst hearing from some amazing speakers.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the Manchester Literature Festival, which welcomes hundreds of writers and readers. We are delighted to share that we will be covering this year’s events. Here is a quick preview of what we’re looking forward to:
Samantha Shannon & Saara El-Arifi
Tuesday 14 October, 7pm
Location: Contact
Join the Manchester Literature Festival for an evening of dystopian and fantasy fiction with Samantha Shannon (The Bone Season) and Saara El-Arifi (Faebound). Together, Shannon and El-Arifi will explore epic storytelling and the processes behind character creation.
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Sayaka Murata
Saturday 18 October, 7pm
Location: Central Library
Literary phenomenon Sayaka Murata (Convenience Store Woman) explores intimacy and reproduction through her provocative new novel Vanishing World. In this new novel, Murata imagines a world where sex is taken out of reproduction – stripping the world of a need for romance, instead opting for functional family units.
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Irvine Welsh
Sunday, 19th October, 7:30 pm
Location: HOME
Choose life. Choose love. Choose to go to An Evening with Irvine Welsh? One of Scotland’s most iconic writers, Welsh takes us back to Trainspotting in his new novel Men in Love. Set during the birth of rave culture, Welsh returns to the lives of Spud, Renton, Sick Boy, and Begbie on their quest for love.
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Jung Chang
Sunday 19 October 2025, 2:00 pm
Location: Central Library
Memoirist Jung Chang discusses Fly, Wild Swans in an evening at Manchester Central Library. This is the sequel to Wild Swans, an account of Chang’s family banned in mainland China since publication.
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Kate Mosse
Monday 20 October, 7:00 pm
Location: Central Library
Kate Mosse, bestselling author and Founder Director of the Women’s Prizes, joins Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her new non-fiction book, Feminist History for Every Day of the Year. Mosse is also running another session on the same day about how writers can get published – be sure to check this out!
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Bora Chung & Susan Barker
Tuesday 21 October, 7:00 pm
Location: Waterstones Deansgate
Bora Chung (Cursed Bunny) and Susan Barker (The Incarnations) are the perfect literary combo to kick off your spooky season. It promises to be a chilling evening discussing their new novels, Chung’s The Midnight Timetable and Barker’s Old Soul.
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Zadie Smith
Tuesday 4 November, 7:30 pm
Location: RNCM
One of our most distinctive contemporary literary voices, Zadie Smith joins Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her new book Dead and Alive. In this new essay collection, she explores the impact of influential artists from Toyin Ojih Odutola to Stormzy. Smith is the best-selling author of The Fraud, On Beauty, Swing Time, NW and White Teeth – as well as the recipient of numerous awards, including the Women’s Prize.
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Jeanette Winterson
Tuesday 11 November, 7:00 pm
Location: RNCM
Forty years after her debut novel Oranges are not the only fruit, Jeanette Winterson makes her much-anticipated return with One Aladdin Two Lamps. Winterson examines the legendary story of Shahrazad to break down who we trust and why. This is a chance to see one of Britain’s most influential writers (and a professor at UOM) discuss reading, rewriting, and subverting tried narratives.
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