Manchester writers practise what they preach
Manchester-based writers Michael Symmons Roberts and Ian McGuire gave exclusive readings from their unpublished new books on 23 July, at a lunchtime event at Manchester Central Library.
Ian is our co-director here at the Centre for New Writing, while Michael lectures at Manchester Metropolitan University's Writing School, so the reading was also an opportunity to see them put their academic theories into practice.
Ian took the stage first, and treated the packed committee room to three extracts from his forthcoming second novel. Provisionally titled Spontaneous You, it has been described by the author as "a comic novel about love, death and bad poetry."
The book tells the story of down-on-his-luck violin teacher Rod, widowed American Barb and her student daughter Caddy, and Ian's bittersweet extracts introduced each character in turn. They also confirmed his continued enthusiasm for multiple point of view narratives, and hinted at settings on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Middle East.
Poet and fiction-writer Michael Symmons Roberts' fifth poetry collection, The Half Healed, is about to be published, and describes a world riven by violence, betrayal and civil conflict. Yet his readings revealed a focus on citizens' attempts to heal and reconcile, and the book actually contains a number of love sonnets.
Many of them, such as 'Armistice' and 'Room Service', describe encounters in a hotel on the border between the warring territories. By the time of 'Hotel Intercontinental', however, only the building's lift shaft remains; an abandoned tangle of metal and wire still housing the redundant 'voice-box' mechanism.
Both writers happily took questions from the audience after their readings, and signed copies of their previous books - until it was time for the assembled to reluctantly return to the office or classroom.