Manchester writers as cosmopolitan culture
The Centre for New Writing joined forces with the new Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures (RICC) for its launch reading on 2 March, when two writers with strong Manchester connections visited Literature Live.
Esteemed poet and fiction-writer Jackie Kaye - born in Edinburgh but now living in Manchester - was joined by Moss Side-born novelist Joe Pemberton for the event. Joe now lives in Edinburgh himself, but is an early graduate of our MA in Creative Writing who has gone on to publish two novels and just completed a third.
He read from his first book For Ever and Ever Amen, which paints a picture of life in 1960s Moss Side through the eyes of nine year-old James. The boy's family is about to leave the area for predominantly white Ashton-under-Lyne, and a strong sense of what they will be leaving behind is created by an array of musical, filmic and cultural references.
Joe's 'pop style' is in evidence from the very start of the book, as James relates snippets of songs and conversations alongside snapshots of events and activities from his life. Key amongst these is the funeral of beloved neighbour 'Auntie Mary', whose role in Joe's life appears to dominate that of his seamstress mother.
Indeed, Aunty Mary is a key figure in Joe's second reading, from much later in the book, which relates a fantasy sequence in distant St. Kitts. In a version of the feeding of the 5000, James imagines her stretching a single packet of British sausages to a never-ending, jostling queue of people. Mary revels in her role as provider to the enthusiastic crowd, crying "It's just like the war!"
Jackie Kay began by reading from her first book of poems The Adoption Papers, using the voice of a would-be adoptive mother - based closely on her own - to describe a social worker's assessment visit. Strongly committed to the politics of the left, the mother decides to hide all evidence of views the social services might find controversial, only to find that she has left a string of 'world peace' badges in full view.
Her fears turn out to be unfounded, however, as the departing official stops and opts for a second cup of tea, and a discussion of the perils of nuclear armament!
Jackie then turned to a series of poems about identity, including an account of a real-life meeting on a late-night train journey north. Finding herself sitting opposite a Nigerian man who fixes her with a long and interested stare, Jackie is told in no uncertain terms that she belongs to the 'Ebo' people of his home country.
Assured that she will get a warm welcome from a clan which apparently has only positive qualities, the writer found the reality somewhat different when she eventually met her birth father years later. Things Fall Apart relays her impressions of a man who is indeed an Ebo, but who - as a born again Christian - considers his daughter evidence of a past sin which he wishes to keep secret.
The writer then read two very amusing passages from her short stories, the first in the voice of a cockney woman who can't stop speaking out of turn and the second describing 85 year-old Eina McEwan's responses to the death of her husband.
Concluding with both a funny and a sad poem, Jackie then re-joined Joe for a Q & A session led by event chair and RICC co-director Jackie Stacey. Topics included the importance of inherited stories and adopted voices and the relationship between character and narrative, before the event rounded up with a discussion of writing and politics.