The first announcements for this year’s Manchester Literature Festival have been made and, highlight the growing reputation and stature of the Festival. Two of the headline announcements will be directly tackling the issue of gender inequality in the modern world as MLF show that this is far a festival just of fiction and poetry. Shami Chakrabarti became a household name in Britain through her work as the Director of Liberty and has become the country’s leading human rights’ activist. She heads to Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her new book Of Women at an event where you can hear discuss the roots of gender injustice and its multiple impacts throughout the world as well as how to redress the imbalance and the benefits for all. Critically acclaimed American author Armistead Maupin will be heading over the Atlantic to discuss his much-anticipated memoir Logical Family. Telling of his journey from the Deep South to San Francisco and his evolution into a gay rights pioneer, the deeply engaging conversationalist will describe his search for people important to him and his attempt to create a ‘Logical Family’. Rounding off the trio of activists, is another American, Rebecca Solnit, the author of contemporary feminist classic, Men Explain Things To Me. In her latest book, The Mother Of All Questions: Further Feminisms, Solnit discusses rape jokes, gender roles and the complicity of silence. She will be discussing the narratives and roles women are assigned with Jeanette Winterson, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Manchester.

Fri 6 – Sun 22 Oct, various venues, times and prices, www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

Fri 6 Oct - Sun 22 Oct
Words:
Joe Daly
Published on:
Wed 7 Jun 2017