Dissecting Manctopia

About the event

What does Manchester mean to you? Football, gentrification, a great night out?

Join Comma Press at our latest event for The Book of Manchester, a collection of short fiction that explores, celebrates and critiques the city Manchester was and has become...

Readings from three authors will be followed by a Q+A about their work and what inspired their portrayal of Manchester, before handing over to you for an audience Q+A. From Brontë Schiltz's tender story of love and loss, to Mish Green's gutsy tale of homelessness and occupation, and finally Ian Carrington's dystopic descent into chaos, each story tells of a different Manchester, one that shapes and informs its characters.

'The Book of Manchester' is part of Comma's popular Reading the City series, which asks authors to write stories set in that particular city, taking readers beyond the guide books and giving them a glimpse into its raw, unfiltered spirit. This event will be chaired by the collection’s editor David Sue. Readings will be heard from Contents May Vary (Brontë Schiltz), Occupy Manctopia (Mish Green) and Ten-two Forty-Four (Ian Carrington).

Join us from 7pm to grab a drink and settle in for an evening of all things Manchester

About the Speakers

Brontë Schiltz is a journalist with The Big Issue and Big Issue North, a freelance contributor to Horrified Magazine, and a PhD candidate with the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she researches the Televisual Gothic (horror on and about TV). She is a writer of short stories, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and theatre, and her work has featured in publications including Lotus Eater Magazine, Olney Magazine, The First Line and Hungry Ghost Magazine. She has also appeared on podcasts including The Ghost Story Book Club, Victorian Legacies, BERGCAST and Chronicles of the Quarter Life.

Mish Green’s collection of short stories about the messy overlap of aid work and war (Jebel Marra, with Comma Press) was described as ‘exceptional’ by the Irish Times. As well as short fiction, they write poetry, spoken word, and creative essays that weave the gaps between. Their recent work on disability and climate collapse can be found in audio and text at linktree/mishgreen. The development of ‘Occupy Manctopia’, for The Book of Manchester, was supported by The Society of Authors.

Ian Carrington is a Manchester writer who, as Fat Roland, has enjoyed a long performance career including a solo show commissioned by The Lowry, ‘Seven Inch’, which contained over 200 self-scrawled cartoon props. He co-compered live literature night Bad Language, twice voted the UK’s best regular spoken word event. For over 100 issues, he has written a music column for Electronic Sound magazine alongside feature interviews. At Easter 2023, Ian experienced a stroke: ‘Ten-Two Forty-Four’ was written during recovery amid post-stroke eyesight defects and hallucinations caused by his mangled brain. He still writes and performs as Fat Roland.