Central Library Readings

I went to a reading yesterday at central library. It was a poetry reading from Carmine Starnino and Patrick McGuiness and it was absolutely great. I'm working in town this week, archiving the papers of Elaine Feinstein at John Rylands, Deansgate. I just popped out on my lunchbreak and enjoyed some truly wonderful poetry.
There were spare seats in the room, which I thought was a shame, since it was such a great free event. I know that it's a little more effort to go to these readings when you don't work in town. I myself am guilty of not wanting to travel into the busy city centre for just an hour long reading, but I'm going to try harder to do so from now on and I'm going to encourage everyone I know to do it as well.
Manchester Libraries puts out a booklet of all their upcoming events which you can get in hard copy from a library or download from here. There are some great events coming up, don't miss out.

Orange Prize Part II

Just a quick update for today:

The reviews the UoM postgrad creative writing students have written for the Orange Prize books are on the Orange Prize blog now.


I've got nothing more to say today. Well in fact I've got lots of stuff to share but it will all have to wait till a later date. I interviewed Jackie Kay for Bewilderbliss, the results of that will go onto the website in a couple of weeks. I've also been reading lots of good stuff in the Elaine Feinstein archive. Check out my other blog to keep up with my progress with that. I will be writing something cohesive about the whole process of my work with the archive. Not sure where that's going yet, but I'll post details here when it's done.

Elaine Feinstein

For the next couple of weeks I will be delving deep into the immense Elaine Feinstein archive at the John Rylands Library. Much of this has not been explored as yet, and my job during my internship at the library is to describe the contents of some a portion of it for the library's records. I will also be writing something based on my work with the archive. I've had a small glimpse at the archive and the few letters that I saw were tantalising in the extreme.

I want to recommend the John Rylands 'Course for the Public' that is looking at the Elaine Feinstein archive, specifically its Ted Hughes based content. The course is on Thurs 25th June and I can promise it will be amazing.

Obviously, much of the archive contains things relating to real, living people. As such, it is protected and I can't discuss what I see with anybody. However, I will be writing about the parts that I am permitted to reveal on my other blog, which I just today found out that Elaine Feinstein herself reads. Catch up with my archival adventures there.

Elaine Feinstein

I've just received details of a really exciting course from the UoM Courses for the Public. It's based around the Elaine Feinstein archive, specifically the part relating to Ted Hughes. I've actually been lucky enough to have a little preview of part of the archive, and been guided through it by Stella Halkyard, who is a tutor for the day course on 25th June. Stella is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, her excitement is truly infectious. This archive is a treasure trove of tantalising letters to other great authors, it is something absolutely not to be missed.