The Rainy City Stories project is now two years old and already a huge success, with writers both known and new contributing work to its interactive map of Manchester (see www.rainycitystories.com ). Two writers who have been involved in the project, Nicholas Royle and Jenn Ashworth, get together with author Clare Dudman to explore the art and skill of writing about place in this panel discussion. It promises to be a stimulating and informative talk of interest to readers and writers alike.

 

MLF and Grimm Up North Festival present a panel discussion on the breadth and diversity of horror literature, chaired by horror fiction supremo Ramsey Campbell, described by the Oxford Companion to English Literature as 'Britain's most respected living horror writer'. Tariq Goddard’s metaphysical horror novel, The Picture of Contented New Wealth, was featured on BBC Radio 4 and won the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Award for horror. Matt Haig is the author of the UK bestseller The Last Family in England and The Radleys, a moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of a very unusual family, exploring what happens if we deny our appetites. Conrad Williams is the author of five novels, including One and The Unblemished, winner of an International Horror Guild Award. These spine-chilling writers are bound to keep you on the edge of your seats.

 

Come and discover some fresh talent showcased in one of the UK’s leading poetry magazines, Magma, and get some top tips on how to submit your own work. Alan Buckley's pamphlet Shiver (the tall-lighthouse) was the PBS pamphlet choice for summer 2009. Sarah Jackson’s pamphlet Milk (Pighog Press) was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award 2009. Clare Pollard has published three collections with Bloodaxe, the most recent of which is Look, Clare! Look! Jacqueline Saphra has won several awards including first prize in the Ledbury Poetry Competition, and her pamphlet, Rock’n’Roll Mamma (Flarestack) is followed this year by a collection to be published by flipped eye.

 

Following on the success of 6X6 at last year’s festival, today sees the launch of 7X7, a further anthology of short stories by Creative Writing undergraduates at MMU Cheshire with fine, elegant images by students on the Illustration degree course at Stockport College. There will be readings and a display of the illustrators’ work, including earlier drafts that led to the final images. Come and discover the creative stars of tomorrow.

 

Liverpool-born Heidi Thomas is an award-winning writer for stage and screen. After beginning her career in the theatre, Heidi cut her screenwriting teeth on ITV drama shows before adapting Madame Bovary and I Capture the Castle for the BBC. She then created and wrote the BBC drama Lilies before winning an RTS award for her adaptation of Cranford. Heidi is currently working on a new version of Upstairs Downstairs for BBC One. This is your chance to put questions to one of Britain’s leading screenwriters. Chaired by Kate Rowland, BBC Creative Director, New Writing, the event is run in partnership with BBC writersroom to offer professional insight for emerging talent.

 

The literary 'zine scene has never been livelier. Come and hear from two of the local success stories as the editors and writers of Bewilderbliss and Corridor8 talk about and read from their magazines. Each year, Corridor8 selects the best and most interesting writers and artists it can find: architecture, contemporary visual and audio art and creative writing rub shoulders to produce a journal that sets out to inform and stimulate as much as it entertains. Produced by students the University of Manchesters Creative Writing Master’s programme, Bewilderbliss showcases the best new prose and poetry from the rainy city and beyond.