moving manchester

is a research project that was funded for three and a half years by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Moving Manchester spent four years (2006-2010) investigating the ways in which the experience of migration has impacted upon contemporary writing in the city and, by extension, the ways in which these multicultural publications and performances have impacted upon the urban population's view of itself as well as the wider perception of Manchester as a British city.

To this end, the project team has worked closely with several Manchester-based writers' organisations and publishers such as Commonword, Gatehouse, The Black Arts Alliance, Comma Press, Manchester Irish Writers' group and sought to actively promote the work of the writers and organisations concerned. These twin commitments, of academic research on the one hand and literature development on the other, are reflected in the project's outputs which combine scholarly articles and books/ book chapters with an open-access electronic catalogue, an anthology of new writing ('Migration Stories', 2009) and a web-based 'Writers Gallery' which features the work and profiles of some 30 Manchester-based writers.

In addition, the project has sought to disseminate the findings of its research, together with the work of Manchester-based authors and writers' organisations themselves, through a number of exhibitions and events that have been aimed at the general public: in particular, a 'Creative Arts Day' (including exhibition) at the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (12 September 2009) and the 'Writing Manchester' exhibition which was held at Manchester Central Library (7 September - 18 October 2009). We have also been able to use a number of our academic events (in particular, the Project's closing conference, 'Glocal Imaginaries' and the Whitworth 'Creative Arts Day') as occasions at which Manchester-based authors could perform and sell their work, and were supported by Arts Council England (North-West) in this enterprise. We estimate that between 50-60 Manchester-based authors will have directly benefited from our activities during the life-time of the project (in terms of paid-performances and additional publications), whilst many hundreds will benefit from the permanent legacy we have secured for their work through the creation of the electronic catalogue and 'Writers Gallery'.

At present, the 'Moving Manchester e-catalogue' may be accessed through the Project website and also Lancaster University's 'Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research' website (www.transculturalwriting.com), which, from 1st January 2012, will become its permanent ‘archival’ home. The MM team are presently busy finishing up the academic publications coming out the project: namely, the academic study 'Postcolonial Manchester’, which is to be published with Manchester University Press, and six special issues of journals coming out of the Glocal Imaginaries conference. (For full details please see our Publications page).

The above image, The Midland Hotel, was specially created for the project by the artist Michael Gutteridge. Michael's surreal images of Manchester can be found throughout the website.

Writers Gallery

Visit the Writers Gallery for contributions from Manchester writers. Twenty-one writers present their work, with fascinating insights into the writers and the writing process. More writers' contributions will appear over the coming weeks.

(Image shows Shamshad Khan, a featured writer.)

eCatalogue

Review our eCatalogue of Manchester writing. Novels, short stories, poetry, plays, autobiograpy and anthologies from famous names - and the not-so-famous ...

Synopses of all entries are provided, along with full publication details.