What's new?
Find out what's been happening at the Centre for New Writing.
-
Festival of Libraries wins ‘Best Event’ at the 2024 Manchester Culture Awards
11 Dec 2024
The Festival of Libraries is an annual celebration of the diverse role played by libraries, showcasing their role as service, learning and creativity...
Read more
-
Looking back: Manchester Literature Festival 2024
22 Nov 2024
This year’s Manchester Literature Festival took place 4-20 October, with an exciting programme of literary events taking place including ...
Read more
-
New anthology showcases emerging literary voices
15 Nov 2024
The Manchester Anthology Volume 14 was officially unveiled at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Monday, 21 October, drawing a crowd of ...
Read more
-
British Council to fund Manchester-Nanjing cultural exchange project
6 Nov 2024
The project, funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants programme, will forge a lasting relationship between Manchester in ...
Read more
-
Digital platform highlights discoveries and insights of pioneering British chemist
15 Oct 2024
A new digital platform has been launched which offers unprecedented access to the thoughts, discoveries and personal reflections of pioneering British...
Read more
-
New anthology highlights talented graduates from the Centre for New Writing
2 Sep 2024
A new anthology is set to be published in September, celebrating the wealth of literary talent produced by The University of Manchester’s Centre for...
Read more
-
Celebrating the Summer Solstice with a day of literature events at Jodrell Bank
2 Jul 2024
On 21 June, an audience of literature enthusiasts, lovers of astronomy and archaeology and academics gathered on the stunning UNESCO Heritage site of...
Read more
-
Festival of Libraries 2024: Celebrating libraries and creativity across Greater Manchester
25 Jun 2024
12-16 June saw the return of Manchester City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries, taking place across the whole of Greater Manchester to ...
Read more
-
Greater Manchester Festival of Libraries 2024
17 May 2024
Taking place in libraries across Greater Manchester between 12-16 June 2024 From 12-16 June 2024, Greater Manchester will once again celebrate the ...
Read more
-
Summer Solstice Celebrations at Jodrell Bank with Creative Manchester
10 May 2024
Jodrell Bank and Creative Manchester are delighted to hold two exciting events to mark the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2024. The daytime event ...
Read more
-
Nat Ogle and Victoria Adukwei Bulley named Centre for New Writing 2024 Burgess Fellows
26 Mar 2024
The Burgess Fellowships introduce two new, published writers to each year’s new Creative Writing Masters programme at the Centre. In their role as ...
Read more
-
Lemn Sissay OBE returns as judge for the 2024 Micropoetry Competition
21 Mar 2024
As the honorary chair of creative writing, Lemn will be one of four judges considering entries around this year’s theme which is ‘200 years of ...
Read more
-
Oscars history for late Manchester Professor Martin Amis
12 Mar 2024
The Zone of Interest, based on the novel penned by late University of Manchester creative writing Professor Martin Amis, made Oscars history as the ...
Read more
-
Creative Manchester partnered with Manchester Literature Festival and Centre for New Writing for; ‘Bernie Sanders in Conversation with Gary Younge’
6 Mar 2024
Creative Manchester were pleased to partner with Manchester Literature Festival, and Centre for New Writing, for ‘Bernie Sanders in Conversation ...
Read more
-
CNW’s Tim Price unveils new play at National Theatre
23 Feb 2024
Screenwriter and playwright Tim Price unveils his new play at the National Theatre, with doors opening this February. Titled 'Nye', it follows one ...
Read more
-
Micropoetry Competition 2024 launches and marks University of Manchester’s 200th year
17 Jan 2024
In 2024, The University of Manchester is marking its bicentenary. It’s a year to celebrate 200 years of learning, innovation and research. To mark ...
Read more
-
Manchester poet wins prestigious TS Eliot Prize
16 Jan 2024
The University of Manchester's Jason Allen-Paisant has been named the winner of the UK’s most prestigious poetry award, the TS Eliot Prize.
Read more
-
Solstice and Equinox series continues with Jeanette Winterson CBE and Alice Oswald
17 Nov 2023
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the event with Alice Oswald has been cancelled. Jodrell Bank will be in touch with those who have made bookings in ...
Read more
-
Black Fell: Combining gaming and opera for a compelling effect
3 Nov 2023
Inspired by visits to the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland, Black Fell is a game-for-music, a story in song where a psychological landscape of ...
Read more
-
Forward Prize top award for Centre for New Writing’s Jason Allen-Paisant
17 Oct 2023
Writer Jason Allen-Paisant has won the Best Collection award 2023 at the Forward Prize for Poetry. The University of Manchester Senior Lecturer’s ...
Read more
-
Centre for New Writing’s Gareth Gavin named in Goldsmith Prize shortlist
6 Oct 2023
Published in April 2023, Gareth’s Never Was: A Novel Without a World has made this year’s six-book shortlist from 107 entries. Director for ...
Read more
-
Jason Allen-Paisant shortlisted for T.S Eliot Prize 2023
3 Oct 2023
University of Manchester Senior Lecturer and writer Jason Allen-Paisant is celebrating another shortlisting today for his second collection of poems,...
Read more
-
University of Manchester celebrates upcoming launch of Manchester Literature Festival 2023
1 Sep 2023
Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) 2023 will take place 7-22 October, featuring a programme of exciting events marking the city’s contribution to...
Read more
-
Manchester Schools Writing Trail 2023
15 Aug 2023
The Manchester City of Literature Schools Writing Trail took place 1-15 June 2023 in six Manchester City Centre venues - including The University of ...
Read more
-
‘Science Around Us’ Micropoetry Competition 2023 winners unveiled
28 Jul 2023
A panel of judges including former University Chancellor and poet Lemn Sissay, Creative Manchester Director and Professor of Poetry John McAuliffe ...
Read more
-
Schools Poetry Competition 2023: Winners revealed
20 Jun 2023
Now in its seventh year, the competition is aimed at pupils from Greater Manchester schools, encouraging children to use poetry as a means of ...
Read more
-
Greater Manchester Festival of Libraries 2023: Creative writing, exploring dictionaries and an ‘edible readathon’
16 Jun 2023
7-11 June saw the return of Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries, taking place across the whole of Greater Manchester to ...
Read more
-
Deadline approaching for micropoetry competition
1 Jun 2023
BAFTA-nominated poet and writer Lemn Sissay - our former Chancellor who holds an honorary chair of creative writing at our University - will be one ...
Read more
-
Obituary: Martin Amis
22 May 2023
Martin Amis, former Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing has died at the age of 73. Martin Amis, who has just died in Florida,...
Read more
-
Greater Manchester Festival of Libraries 2023
9 May 2023
7-11 June 2023 sees the return of Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries. Following the success of the past two years of ...
Read more
-
Lemn Sissay to judge poetry competition celebrating ‘science around us’
21 Mar 2023
Budding writers have been challenged to craft a Twitter micropoem on the theme of the ‘science around us’ by Creative Manchester, which has ...
Read more
-
Manchester rated ‘Excellent’ by UNESCO as a Creative City of Literature
20 Feb 2023
In 2017 Manchester was successful in its bid to join UNESCO’s worldwide Creative Cities network as a City of Literature, which recognised the ...
Read more
Obituary: Martin Amis
Martin Amis, former Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing has died at the age of 73.
Martin Amis, who has just died in Florida, worked as our first Professor of Creative Writing at The University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing from 2007-2011.
All of us who worked with Martin at the Centre for New Writing send our condolences to his family.
As Professor here, Martin set up new seminars, for writers, which looked at canonical texts, and set about introducing our students to the kind of work they might not have come across in their previous reading, the less well-known works of Nabokov and Bellow, the comic novel, the Russian novella - as well as works by Austen, Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Anthony Burgess and others.
Martin's position here drew interest from student writers (applications for the MA surged), but Martin's biggest contribution, possibly, was the series of events he ran at venues in the university and in downtown Manchester. They drew big crowds of readers for debates about literature's relation to subjects as various (or linked!) as religion, violence, Britishness, suicide, film, which started new discussions - about the role of contemporary writer, as well as showing the continuing appetite for talk about literature inside and outside the university.
Martin was, also, great, congenial company: he was devoted to writing and it was a pleasure for us to work alongside someone who took such pleasure from the life of books, and life itself. We always looked forward to his return visits to the city, and are sure his books, a number of which were launched here, will continue to delight and instruct their readers.
Professor John McAuliffe and Dr Ian McGuire
Centre for New Writing, The University of Manchester