Free things to do at home this week ft. classical music, New Words Festival, nature walks with The Lowry & more

Psappha Ensemble are Manchester’s contemporary classical music group, and, like the rest of us, they were unable to perform as usual throughout the past year. Happily though, they’ve put the whole of their Autumn 2020 3×3 series online for your enjoyment. Tune in to hear some world premiere recordings, all recorded in ultra-clear 4K.

To mark last week’s International Women’s Day celebrations, Castlefield Gallery teamed up with photography curator and editor Mairama Attah to record a brand-new podcast episode with sculptor Jocelyn McGregor. Look out for Jocelyn’s new solo collection Mantle, which debuts at the Gallery some time in the very near future. In the meantime, you can listen to her recent podcast appearance below.

Rebecca Goss is one of Britain’s most interesting and powerful poets. Her work covers a broad range of subjects, particularly on themes of motherhood, with Her Birth shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2013. Here, she delves into a reading and Q&A session with the team from Manchester Libraries – check it out via the link below.

This one covers the recent and the historic. A day after Rebecca Goss’s appearance, New Words Festival returns with this talk looking at a very different literary family: the Brontë sisters. Listen to Dr Sophie Franklin and Adelle Hay, two of the authors of local publisher Saraband’s A View From the 21st Century Brontë biographies, as they approach these famous literary sisters through a modern-day lens.

If you’re looking to spice up your socially distanced walks, perhaps consider attending the final instalment of The Lowry’s Connecting with Nature Zoom series, which looks to connect with Manchester’s hidden wildlife. There’s everything in here, from Oldham’s mountain hares to Wigan’s Golden Bootleg fungus – all from the comfort of your own home.