Following the Government and Public Health England’s advice around COVID-19, Manchester Literature Festival has taken the decision to postpone its forthcoming events for April and May 2020 including An Evening with Hilary Mantel on Sunday 19 April.
The Festival team is working hard to reschedule events for Autumn 2020 or Spring 2021 depending on the authors’ availability. All ticket holders will be offered a refund from their box office partners Quaytickets and RNCM in due course.
As a registered charity, Manchester Literature Festival relies on ticket sales for a substantial part of its income and to help fund its work with emerging writers. The uncertainty ahead is a significant worry for them as an organisation and for the writers, poets, publishers, venues and partners they work with.
In keeping with the Government and Public Health England’s new guidelines, the Festival team is working remotely for the foreseeable future and continuing with plans for its 15th Festival this October.
At present, the Festival dates are Friday 2 – Sunday 18 October 2020 and the organisation is currently working hard on a diverse and exciting programme of fiction, poetry, culture, imaginative writing and events for young readers. The Festival aims to announce a few headline events over the next few months and launch its full programme in August 2020.
Manchester Literature Festival understands how important literature is, particularly at times of uncertainty, and hopes that reading will offer a sense of wellbeing over the coming months.
“Working in literature full time we understand the joy, comfort, refuge and escapism books and stories can bring people” states MLF Co-Director Sarah-Jane Roberts. “We feel lucky to be part of a wonderful and creative community of writers, readers, performers and storytellers. We thank Arts Council England and our other funders for their support at this testing time and look forward to sharing more brilliant events in the near future.”
