Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries is delighted to announce Lemn Sissay OBE as the ambassador of this year’s festival, as the full live programme of 80 events, running from Wednesday 15th to Sunday 19th June, 2022 is revealed.
The BAFTA nominated, international prize-winning writer, who was recently awarded an an OBE for services to literature by The Queen of England, will participate and support across the varied and vibrant programme, which highlights the library network’s full offer, for people from all backgrounds and demographics, with events taking in wellbeing, culture and creativity, digital and information, and reading.
Social enterprise group MediaCubs, which gives young children the opportunity to become reporters for the day, got the scoop on the announcement as Lemn recently visited Standish Library in Wigan with Manchester City of Literature. The young cub reporters, aged between just 5 and 9 were able to test-drive their interview skills on Lemn in a pop-up TV studio and newsroom and created a broadcast revealing the news.
Working alongside library staff across Greater Manchester, Lemn will also act as a judge on the Shoebox Libraries project, a GM-wide, open to all competition, guided by artist and theatre designer Klaire Doyle, to encourage any child, anywhere to create their own dream library out of materials they can find at home.
Available to schools across Greater Manchester, will be a live stream from Lemn, with a talk about his love for libraries, reading from his new picture book Don’t Ask The Dragon and answering questions put to him by primary school pupils from across GM.
Lemn will join the festival’s Inspired by strand of events, joining the recently announced much-loved actress and activist, Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street, Dr Who), as well as modern furniture restorer, eco-designer and TV presenter, Jay Blades (The Repair Shop, Money For Nothing), additional names for this series will follow in the coming weeks.
New for 2022 is the Readers in Residence programme, featuring acclaimed young adult author Danielle Jawondo (And The Stars Were Burning Brightly) and Oliver Sykes (Alfie’s First Fight, Stories of Care), alongside Young Identity, Manchester’s premier spoken word collective, which aims to encourage teenagers to explore their own creativity, through reading, writing, poetry and performance.
The Migrant Voices ‘Living Library’ showcases musicians from Olympias Music Foundation’s ACE-funded project, Mapping Migrant Voices. With performances at Stockport and Bolton libraries, and a celebration at John Rylands, the events will invite the public to meet celebrated musicians from the local community, hear their stories and musical performances, plus also share their own oral histories with historians from the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Centre.
Lemn Sissay OBE, Festival of Libraries ambassador said: “A library is the loudest place on the high street, because books are bursting with very loud ideas. And yet it is where you can go for peace and quiet; amongst all that is happening in our world, peace and quiet has great value.
Libraries change the world because people who use libraries change the world. This year’s Festival of Libraries demonstrates throughout its brilliant programme that all ages, all types, all are welcome. Your community. Your library”.
2022’s Manchester Festival of Libraries programme, has panels, talks and workshops taking place across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs, all of which are now listed on the festival website.
