Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries, the county-wide celebration of Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries, will return this summer.
Following a hugely successful debut last year, the upcoming edition will feature a full live programme of events running from Wed 15 Jun-Sun 19 Jun.
A celebration of the magic on offer throughout the library network, events will span wellbeing, culture and creativity, digital and information, and reading.
The now-annual event features digital art commissions, artist residencies, dance, performance, panel talks and walking tours.
In 2022, mass participation events will become a major part of the Festival; the Look for a Book treasure hunt adventure competition will see young people searching for books in every borough of Greater Manchester to win a copy and the chance to meet the author, while the Shoebox Libraries project will encourage anyone, anywhere to create their own dream library out of materials they can find at home.
The Inspired by series of events, that saw contributions from the likes of Elbow’s Guy Garvey and BBC 6 Music’s Stuart Maconie last year, will be back with an impressive line-up including actress and activist, Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street, Dr Who), and modern furniture restorer, eco-designer and TV presenter, Jay Blades (The Repair Shop, Money For Nothing).
To get a taste of what to expect, in 2021 there were 80 free events and more than 50 artists involved across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.
The Festival of Libraries will take place across renowned institutions like the Central Library, Chetham’s, The Portico and John Rylands, alongside an equally vital collection of local libraries.
Stay tuned for more announcements over on the Manchester City of Literature website.
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Tue 22 Mar 2022
