MLF and Manchester City Library present two of the UK’s most exciting new authors, both shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize. Rosie Alison's The Very Thought of You is a haunting coming-of-age novel. Set during World War Two, it tells the story of evacuee Anna Sands, who is unwittingly drawn into her host’s love affair. Monique Roffey’s second novel, The White Woman on a Green Bicycle, is a sharply observed and engrossing portrait of a marriage, set against the political turmoil of newly-independent Trinidad.

 

Following on from last year’s sell-out event, MLF, Manchester City Library and Commonword offer another opportunity for unpublished writers to submit their work for the scrutiny of a panel of experts in the publishing industry. Shortlisted entrants to the Crocus First Chapter Competition will pitch their work to the judges (author Jane Rogers, Cannongate editor Dan Franklin, and Zoe King, Associate Agent at the Darley Anderson Agency) in front of a live audience, and the winner will receive a £250 cash prize and in-depth advice on publication. Imagine a literary X Factor without the boot camp!

 

MLF and Manchester City Library present two of the UK’s foremost women writers. Amanda Craig is an award-winning journalist and the author of six novels, including Hearts and Minds, a thrilling and thoroughly contemporary tale about the invisible lives of immigrants struggling to earn and prosper in a capital that is not always kind to strangers. Michèle Roberts, poet, essayist, and author of fourteen works of fiction, was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2000. She will be talking about her latest short story collection Mud: Stories of Sex and Love, which transports the reader to nineteenth century Venice, 1970s England, and modern-day France.

 

Patricia Duncker is the author of the acclaimed Hallucinating Foucault and Mrs Webster and Sherif. Her latest work, The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge, introduces the formidable Dominique Carpentier, in charge of the investigation into a secret suicide cult, taking the reader on a breathless journey through the vineyards of southern France and the gabled houses of Lubeck to Jodrell Bank. Barbara Trapido is the author of seven novels including Brother of the More Famous Jack and Frankie and Stankie. Her dazzling new novel Sex and Stravinsky brings together a global cast of characters whose cruel and witty stories interweave like an intriguing dance. Come and hear these captivating, award-winning authors discuss their latest works.