Claire Massey, Prestwich Book Fest and Drinking in the Northern Quarter

Claire Massey is one of my favourite Manchester-area writers. Her stories are smooth and lean and pleasantly uncomfortable, modern fairy tales that make you feel a bit strange. So I was very happy to hear that Manchester's own Nightjar Press was publishing two of her stories as single story chapbooks. I love the idea of single story books, and Nightjar's are always carefully chosen and beautifully designed... just the thing for a commute or an after-dinner read. Massey's Into the Penny Arcade is a creepy tale of a girl who happens into a strange place on her way home from school, with a nicely ambiguous ending. There's nothing ambigious about the way Marionettes ends, but this story about a couple holidaying in Prague does that difficult thing of making magic seem inevitable and unquestionably real. I should also mention that the two predecessors in the Nightjar chapbook series are winners too; Christopher Kenworthy's Sullom Hill explores good and evil among children in Garstang, and anyone who's read Ga Pickin's beautifully written Remains won't be venturing out on the moors after dark anytime soon. Collect them all!

Claire Massey will be reading at the first-ever Prestwich Book Festival, along with a host of other folk like Ben Judge, Aaron Gow, Sarah-Clare Conlon at the emerging writers night this Thursday the 17th May. And also, me! I'll be going all meta and reading an essay I wrote about a bar, in a bar (well, okay, a pub. The Church Inn, which I've never been to but have heard very encouraging things about.) The writerly action all kicks off at 8pm. And there's plenty else on; lots of good events helpfully spread out over several weeks rather than crammed into a few days. I'd especially like to get to Tony Walsh's Vocabaret on 14 June.

 And speaking of writing in bars: The Complete History of Drinking in the Northern Quarter is a fascinating transmedia arts project that uses collective storytelling and social history to get at what makes this place special to so many people. It's an endeavour that is pretty close to my heart. I still remember the first time I turned onto Tib Street in 2004 following promising reports on t'internet to the likes of Cord, Afflecks and the late, great Love Saves the Day and breathed a sigh of relief that there was a place with some art and soul in this strange city. The Northern Quarter quickly became my workplace and hanging out place and if anywhere feels like home to me in Manchester, this small network of streets and alleys is it. If you also have a history with this neighboorhood and its many fine drinking establishments, there are lots of different ways to get involved: you can record/submit a story with Audioboo (or the Complete History gang will come record you); you can share a written story, a video, photographs or memorabilia. They've got some very interesting things planned for the coming months, so keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter to stay in the loop.

Claire Massey photo Jonathan Bean.

A good burger in Manchester

Finally got down to Almost Famous burgers the other night. I've been watching from a distance for weeks as the growing Manchester foodbloggerati fell hard for this temporary burger joint from the folks behind Keku Moku, Home Sweet Home and Socio Rehab. Could it be that a decent burger had finally made its way to Manchester? Reports were promising.

I ignored the whole "no bloggers no blaggers no photos" thing as a clever marketing ploy; as a signless pop-up burger joint in what appear to be empty offices in the top floor of a building in the Northern Quarter they would have been screwed if nobody had blogged or tweeted about it. Of course that did not happen, and thank god it didn't, because we want these guys to come back with their good burgers SOON. ( As an aside, anyone interested in social media marketing should take a look at their twitter feed. I imagine it being written by a kind of meat-crazed Hunter S. Thompson).

But really, who gives a shit about their marketing when their burgers are this good. They are the real deal. And yes, I say this as a burger-chomping American known to bitch about how bad the burgers are here in England. Juicy and pink in the middle, they appear to be made with 100 percent beef unadulterated by bready filler, vegetables or weird spices. You can tell all the burger research time Almost Famous' Beau Myers spent in California was put to good use (tough gig, that). Nice brioche-style bun too that wasn't too thick but got out of the way and let the meat shine. And the inclusion of rib meat and cole slaw in their Triple Nom burger was a stroke of meaty genius.

I like the gauntlet thrown down by placing a fresh cylinder of kitchen roll on the table with your food. Like, you're going to need this. And you will. The fries were good, but not quite as amazing as the boigers. It might be a regional thing; up in New England where I'm from places like this do a brisk trade in dirty, just-pulled-out-of-the-ground, cooked-until-they're-mahogany fries. But definitely nice that they added sweet potatoes to the mix. A messy barbecueish special with roadkill in the name, some fearsome looking wings, and vodka cupcakes all appealed, but I was already stuffed.

A note about the drinks: These guys seem to have a winning strategy of keeping diners likkered up. I had only to enquire about the composition of a Jack & Smack before a free shot of this potent elixr was on the bar before me. (In fairness, though, I had tweeted that I was coming and am pretty easy to spot, so maybe they were especially forthcoming.) The cocktails are head-scrambling mixtures with punchy names like Bitch Juice. This combined with their opening hours (weekends only, late nights) and position sprawled in the lap of about a hundred NQ bars make the atmosphere boozy and convivial. This is a good thing. It's nice to have a place to eat good food where you can really kick back, but, you know, leave the kids at home.

If you're going you'll have to be quick (and prepared to queue; last Friday there was a line from around 5:30; so good news that they're opening around 1pm this Friday. For evening eats, arriving after 9 or 10 might be a better strategy). This weekend's their last before this incarnation of Almost Famous closes, but there are intimations that a more permanent venue might open at some point in the future. Hurry up, burger dudes. Manchester needs your patties.

Monster burger illustration by NOF artherapy.

Blog North launches

Bloggers of the world, meet Blog North, a project I've been working on with our own lovely Creative Tourist and Leeds' magnificent The Culture Vulture. It's a new network for culture bloggers in the North, and an accompanying series of tasty blogger events at art venues, festivals and cultural organisations. We kick things off on 12 May in Wakefield, home to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (home to the Miro image pictured above) and The Hepworth.

What's the idea here? Well, as bloggers, we're pretty much on our own. We often start writing on the side, for fun, in our spare time. Many of us begin without formal training in writing for the internets (or otherwise), and often, writing about arts and culture is something we are doing as art lovers writing from a place of unschooled enthusiasm rather than years of training as an artist, art historian or cultural critic. The thinking behind this series is to provide Northern bloggers with an arts journalist's level of access to exhibitions and cultural events (guided tours, artist/curator talks, etc.) alongside a series of workshops and masterclasses where they can hone their writing and critical skills.

But that's not all! There will be fun schmoozing-with-other-bloggers time and the opportunity to join our Blog North network (and get shiny badges for your blog.) For all the details and booking stuff, head over to the Blog North page. And please note that we are offering six free places for established bloggers who can make a good case for why they need to be there. See you in Wakefield...

Image courtesy of Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

NALD conference and blogging workshop

A couple of things to quickly tell you about:

With my Openstories hat on I'll be taking part in a panel discussion at the National Association of Literature Development conference, The Space Between Us, in London next week (still tickets if you hurry). Really looking forward to talking over the many changes happening in the field of literature development, and the evolution of blogging, online publishing and creative writing websites such as Rainy City Stories and The Real Story are right at the centre of these changes. But there's also the new forms of experimental literature happening on new platforms/devices, the self-publishing revolution, e-books and a host of other changes to talk about. It's an exciting time for readers and writers.

Also, I'm running another session on The Art of Blogging at Cornerhouse on 17 April at 6pm. This will be an informal, conversational session (rather than a lecture) so places are limited. We'll be sharing tips on developing a writing style and identity for your blog, finding the right platform, building an engaged community of readers and getting your posts to a bigger audience among other things, and looking at some particularly successful blogs in detail. It will be suitable for new and more experiened bloggers alike. Please note though that this will not be a hands-on "how to start a blog" session; Cornerhouse runs separate beginning to blog sessions that cover the nuts and bolts.

If you're interested, be aware that events in this series tend to book up very quickly.

Underwood illustration from the amazing Le Pen Quotidien.

New blogs: The secondhand edition

Hey. Been a while, hasn't it? And all that while I've been quietly collecting new Manchester blogs...

New blog Secondhand Safari is the brainchild of Suzy Prince (above) who used to run the excellent Nude Magazine. Suzy has set herself the task of buying no new items for a year (with some reasonable exemptions for food and the like.) It's a mission that I totally support, as a passionate lover of charity shops and buying things that come with their own mysterious history. Suzy's challenge starts on May Day, but there's plenty of good content on her blog already.

Bernadette Hyland is the woman behind Lipstick Socialist, where she writes about culture, women's issues, trade unions and grassroots campaigns.

Laura Moulden's personal blog is at laura em.

Nice to see a food blog focusing on the humble caffs and cafes of Manchester: Angie Harrison's Cafe Reviews. And journalist Louise Bolotin blogs about cooking for one at The Lone Gourmet.

Sheesh. How on earth did I forget to link to David Bailey's mindbendingly gonzo food blog Food Legend? A bit strange as it only won a blog award last year, and I have been telling people to go read it for months. Anyway, this has now been corrected.

Lots more food blog action this time around (finally Manchester wakes up to the food blogging revolution. Huzzah!) Get your teeth around Foods to try before you die, Hungry Hoss, Good Egg Foodie, Lady Nom, Good golly good gobble!, North/South Food, Mangechester and The Hungry Manc. Burp.

Spancunian Andrea Perez Arduna writes Me, Myself & The UK about her experiences living in Manchester, and her partner Daniel writes Simply Sport.

Writer Ebba Brooks blogs at Jenny Wren and Bella Wilfer Her latest post is about Manchester novelist Alexandra Singer and her remarkable story.

Liz Postlethwaite writes the Organic Allotment blog, about monster truck-driving kittens. No, it's about gardening. Just messing with ya.

Jamie Alun Price blogs at The Etched Mirror, which documents the photographer's adventures in Manchester and elsewhere. He also took the photo of Suzy above.

SACStyle is a fashion blog.

Rochdale blogger Seamus Kelly writes a poetry blog Thinking Too Much and also a biking blog, It is so about the bike.

Melanie King writes art catalyst about her arty adventures in London and Manchester.

threadsandletters is about stitches, writings, DIY publishing and photocopies.

The Fiction Stroker reviews books, comics, radio, TV and events.

Outtasound is a new music blog.

Pencil it in is a new culture/digital/design/food blog by Jen, a digital marketer living in Manchester. Like the design.

Curious Christina is a Manchester-based travel blogger.

Dry Goods wants to know what's in your cupboards.

Manchester travel and fiction writer Rhonda Carrier blogs about her journeys and traveling with kids at Rhonda's Travels.

Finally, Bury-based artist Coreen Cottam blogs at Cottamart. Happy readings everyone. And as always, if I've left you out, drop me a line and I'll fix it.

UPDATE: No sooner had I published this than a few people got in touch with additions...

Carolyn Hughes, or the blogger also known as Manchester is Ace has started a new blog about things to do in South Manchester with babies and toddlers, Little Dudes.

Didn'tsbury is "an unusual local photo blog which features photographs taken in Didsbury accompanied with surrealist short fiction. It aims to celebrate Didsbury alongside creative writing which will both bemuse *and* amuse the reader." Nice idea. Submissions welcome.

Finally, James follows the fortunes of Bury in Life, love and third division football.

Someday my print will come

Everyone in Manchester has started a literary magazine. You have too, haven't you? I thought so. This is good if you're a reader or a writer. This is not good if you hate literary magazines. If you hate literary magazines, run along now, this post will bore you.

I put this literary publishing frenzy down to the fact that it is so darn easy to publish an online magazine right now that a drunk kitten could probably manage it. Some of them are, essentially, group-written blogs, published on blogging platforms with a pared-down aesthetic. Others look just like proper print magazines, with design and illustration of a professional standard and are delivered via apps like issu, which aims to create a magazine-reading experience on your computer; turning pages instead of scrolling, for example. (It must be pointed out that some of these people are actually producing old-fashioned, hold-it-in-your-hands print mags and for this I salute them.)

Are they good? Some are fantastic, some aren't. But I like the fact that these writers are getting out there, messing about with words, and giving other writers a way to bring their work to a bigger audience. With some of these online projects the product isn't as important as the concept and the process. And it's interesting to think about how the publishing process itself is changing. When we can set up an online lit mag in an afternoon, and publish at the touch of a button are we losing time that in the days of print would be spent polishing, editing, perfecting? Is the fact that the finished product often isn't actually a product, in any but the most virtual sense, making us bolder (or less painstaking) editors? You can always go back and edit your post, right?


Anyway, enough of this. If you're a writer, you can send your stuff to:
Cutaway Magazine
Shoestring Magazine
Black & BLUE
Torn
There was nowhere to go but everywhere
Top Ten

By the way, if you're interested in places to read your work or hear people reading theirs, check out this list of live literature hotspots in Manchester I did for Creative Tourist earlier this month.

I don't know if you've noticed, but it's 2012 and we still don't have a Manchester listings magazine. Our last one, CityLife, closed in 2005. I was at a Christmas party with a newly arrived BBC staffer who wanted to know where we all found out what was on, and it was interesting to hear five or six Manchester folks who work in the arts share their own cobbled together collection of blogs, newspapers and websites. No easy answer there. Established listings magazine makers continue to snub Manchester, concluding that there is no money to be made from advertising here. And to be fair, they are probably right. But we are getting a new online listings site - Manchester Wire, set up by freelance writer Ruth Allan and my frequent collaborator Chris Horkan, with startup funds from Umbro Industries. I'll link to it here when it goes live.

Image by Leigh Jay Hicks (via Flickr).

Merry Chrismizzle

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a happy holidaze, and I'll see you on the flip side.