Join us at the next event in the ‘Solstice and Equinox’ series for a festive evening of ghost stories.
Award-winning writer, acclaimed author and Professor of New Writing at The University of Manchester, Jeanette Winterson returns to the John Rylands Research Institute and Library this Christmas time to share her latest chilling collection - Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories.
Who’s afraid of ghosts, ghouls and the occult?
Ghost stories told at Christmas is a long-held tradition and a popular Victorian pastime, with families sharing spine-tingling tales around a cosy fireplace as the nights lengthened and winter settled in.
While our lives have become digital, exposed and always on, ghosts have been finding new ways to connect to us, to reach us, to haunt us.
Approaching the darkest day of the year and in the atmospheric setting of the Grade-I listed, neo-Gothic library, Jeanette will read from her new collection, talk with poet John McAuliffe about her work and share some of her real-life encounters with the occult. Entertaining, passionate and highly knowledgeable, Jeanette’s events are not to be missed.
The event is part of Creative Manchester’s ‘Solstice and Equinox’ series of events which brings innovative creative artists to The University of Manchester’s four Cultural Institutions. Each of our unique cultural institutions – the Whitworth, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Museum and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre – focus on building civic, national and international partnerships to advance the social, environmental and individual wellbeing of our communities.
This merry, macabre evening takes place at 6pm on Thursday 14 December at the Rylands, Deansgate, and is preceded by a festive drinks reception at 5pm. Everyone is welcome.
It is FREE to register, but we ask you to consider donating to Manchester Youth Zone. Based in North Manchester, in one of the most deprived areas in England, they provide a unique, safe place for young people aged 8-19 (up to 25 with additional needs) to raise their aspirations and enjoy healthier, happier lives.
Image credit: one of the most beautiful Renaissance manuscripts of The University of Manchester Library is a copy of Christianus Prolianus’ scientific treatise, Astronomia, produced in Naples around 1478 (Latin MS 53)
