Poetry Events in Manchester this week

I'll be in Manchester this week for two events with Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Art Galleries. On Thursday 10th October I'll be performing a new poetry commission inspired by (and in reaction to) paintings in the Manchester Art Galleries exhibition 'A Highland Romance - Victorian Views of Scottishness'. Thanks to Manchester Literature Festival for inviting me to take on this very interesting commission...which threw up the possibility that Victorian Views of Scottishness might not be so very different from contemporary ones (see prevalence of Highland Cows). On Saturday 12th I'll be tutoring a day-long workshop in the gallery exploring ekphrasis – poetry inspired by visual art. We've got a beautiful big studio and lots of materials to play with, so I'll be curious to see if participants are interested in exploring the materiality of language.