Alasdair Gray, Scottish avant-garde provocateur, dies aged 85
Will Stonier pays tribute to Alisdair Gray, who we lost at the end of 2019. Will discusses how his literature was recieved in the world, and how his literature can continue to inspire readers today.
Vicarious travels: On the travel writing genre
Travel writing gives us the luxury of travelling across seas and experiencing a location through somebody else’s eyes
Review: ‘The Year I Didn’t Eat’ by Samuel Pollen
Yusuf Steel reviews Samuel Pollen’s debut novel, a tentative and honest story about one boy’s internal struggle
The Reading Agency Christmas appeal
The Reading Agency is a charity that has a host of projects which could do with your support
Gifts and reads for the New Year
Mancunion books editor Shaheena collects recommendations from the Mancunion Books team for gifts and reads this Christmas and New Year
A novel for the Anthropocene: Richard Powers’ The Overstory
Will Stonier considers how Richard Powers interacts with the anthropecene in his book of short stories
Truth in fiction: Arundhati Roy
Books Editor Shaheena discusses Arundhati Roy, an Indian author whose fiction shines a light on injustices in her home country
“The angriest black man in America”: The autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a central piece of literature for understanding race relations today
Why do we put books on a pedestal?
Alice Porter attempts to de-spell the myth that books are the supreme form of popular culture, despite being a self-proclaimed book lover
Review: Little Fires Everywhere
Writer Sam Bronheim reviews Celeste Ng’s New York Times bestseller and its exploration of the multiple roles of women
Review: ‘The Demon’ by Hubert Selby Jr
Selby’s The Demon is a disturbingly raw account of how difficult it is for some to escape their inner urges and destructive tendencies
His Dark Materials, a BBC adaptation
Faiza Hussain discusses the airing of the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials
Manchester hosts Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous launch
Penny Haslam’s New book How to Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous hits shelves this month, providing tips for anybody with a career in the public eye
Review: Robert Macfarlane — Underland
Robert Macfarlane’s Underland discusses our relationship to the earth beneath our feet, review by Will Stonier
Review: ‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood
Fashion editor Alice Porter argues that the ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ sequel prioritises plot over politics with a novel that was unnecessarily built up
Don Quichotte: Renewing old stories
Shaheena reviews Salman Rushdie’s latest book – a modern retelling of Don Quixote in ‘the Age of Anything-Can-Happen’
Opinion: Man Booker continues to fail black women
The Man Booker Prize is being praised because a black woman, Bernadine Evaristo, has won for the first time, but what does her having to share the prize say?
Opinion: Marx and the issue of Apologism
Shaheena Patel takes a look at figures who impact our current modes of thought, and the orientalist viewpoints that affected their work
Unfollow: Growing up in the Westboro Baptist Church
Sam Coates discussed the Westboro Baptist church, and promotes Megan Phelps-Roper’s recently release book, Unfollow