Manchester arts venues dig social media

Increasingly, arts organisations and cultural institutions in Manchester are getting all mixed up with social media. It's not just about reaching younger and more tech-savvy audiences - though it will certainly help them do that - but taking part in the wider cultural conversation that is taking place in Manchester.

The Bolton Octagon has an excellent blog which provides behind-the-scenes peeks at their productions. Because I follow Bury Met on Twitter, I've been reminded about gigs I would have otherwise missed. The Library Theatre is on Twitter. So is Contact., Urbis and The Oldham Coliseum, which also uses a link sharing account on delicious to track coverage of their current production.

And that's just the heavy hitters. Really, one of the best things about social media is how it allows small underfunded collectives and artist groups to get the word out about their work without paying through the nose for PR. I've written about this phenomena in the Manc literature scene loads, but for a glimpse of similar things happening on the visual art side check out Exocet and Interval.

Sure, social media is another channel on which to promote your stuff, but savvy arts orgs understand that it's a tool that works both ways. It can also allow punters to participate in their work, from deciding what band should play a festival to getting involved in creating artistic content online. So the relationship becomes less one-sided and (hopefully) engenders a broader sense of ownership around these institutions.

Cornerhouse has embraced an interesting new "open source" approach which aims to engage the public more in programming, and abandon the traditional model of a head curator/programmer determining cultural output. The ensuing staff reshuffle which saw longtime film honcho Linda Pariser and Visual Art Director Kathy Rae Huffman depart caused a bit of a kerfuffle on the Manc arts scene.

Cornerhouse's new world order is laid out for your persual in The Art of With - an essay, seminar and a conversation that will potentially shape what the institution does in the future. The C-house commissioned We-Think author Charles Leadbeater to write an essay on how arts orgs can successfully incorporate this approach. And it's all just as collaborative as you'd expect: you can comment on the essay at the wiki here, and get involved in the seminar June 24.

And in July, Manchester Museums Consortium are launching a Wordpress-based online magazine to promote their activities and the city as a cultural destination. I'll be helping MMC involve the city's cultural bloggers in creating content for the site, so if you're doing reviews or criticism on your blog, drop me a line.

The Cutting Room Experiment

There's an empty square in Ancoats next to St. Peter's Church called Cutting Room Square. It's a new public square created as part of the regeneration of the area. It's pretty quiet up there these days. But that's all going to change on June 20 when the Cutting Room Experiment takes over.

What's it all about? Well, nobody knows yet. The organisers are soliciting ideas for events across 12 different streams of programming, including literature, architecture/design, art and pop music. The way it works is that people submit their ideas for what they think should happen, and the winners of open online voting decide what actually gets to happen. It's a little similar to the way the Mapping Creativity project worked, but with a different focus and on a different scale.

Current contenders include some unsurprisingly flashmobby suggestions, like the biggest Space Hopper race ever, an enormous silent disco and a mass dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The literature stream makes for particularly interesting reading with some strong, writing-led ideas alongside some stranger ones (Jane Austen and zombies???) Votes close on Friday, May 29.

The resulting events will be funded by regeneration bodies, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and New East Manchester.

Got questions? Want to know more? Well, you're in luck. Organiser Jon is inviting curious bloggers down to the Bay Horse on Thursday May 21 at 6:30 for what may be Manchester's first ever "blog launch," constituting a chat about the event and a free pint.

Rainy City Stories June workshops

Attention writerly folk: The Rainy City Stories project has teamed up with the lovely people at Commonword to run some creative writing workshops in Greater Manchester on the theme of writing about place.

How do the best writers successfully evoke the unique feeling of a place? How can descriptions and telling details be used to transport the reader to a particular setting? Writer Suzanne Batty will help participants explore new tactics and techniques in the two-hour session.

Suzanne Batty has published two collections of poems, most recently The Barking Thing (Bloodaxe Books). She is an experienced workshop leader who teaches Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University and is co-editor of poetry journal Rain Dog.

This workshop is suitable for all levels of writer. Places are free, but limited to 12 people per workshop, so early booking is advised. It will be offered in four locations:

Stockport Art Gallery Saturday June 13, 2-4 pm
To book a place, please ring 0161 474 4453

Bury Fusiliers’ Museum Wednesday June 24, 7-9 pm
To book a place, please ring 01706 823264

Hyde Library Thursday June 25, 1-3 pm
To book a place, please ring 0161 342 4450

Standish Library Saturday June 27, 10am-12pm
To book a place, please ring 01257 400496

New Blogs: The Checkpoint Charlie Edition

"Can I see your papers, sir?" Manchester's set to become Cold War-era East Berlin as we've drawn the short, shit-covered straw and won the privilege of being the first city in Britain to get identification cards.

They won't be compulsory, oh no - well, not at first. Good citizens will queue up to get them out of an earnest desire to help the authorities keep us all safe, right? And you're a good citizen, right? So why don't you want one? Don't you want to live in a safe country? Hmmm, maybe we should make them mandatory. For the good of all, you understand.

Don't you stand for it.

I received an email from Rosetta Hampshire telling me about her new blog: although I am not quite as delicious as I once was

"I suppose it would fit best in the personal blogs bit as I intend to write largely about myself and my feelings about moving to Manchester. I was actually born here about ninety years ago but had never actually seen the city until this year. At ninety years old I cannot promise my blog will last for very long but hopefully it will be worth reading while it (and I) keep going."

There can't be too many nonagenarian ladies who list Stereolab among their favourite bands, but the world is much stranger than we think. ;)

A couple of new music blogs: Guestlist and Cath Aubergine's Up the Down Escalator which is a blog that lives on MySpace.

Oldham 100 is a photo blog written by an Oldham bus driver who documents his route in daily snaps. Great idea, nicely executed.

The Manchester Zedders live here. What are zedders? Go find out.

Following up my last, surprisingly comment-provoking post, Sarah Hartley has a personal blog here, and will continue her food writing here.

Commonword joins the blogging fray with Commonword Blogs.

An interesting new addition to the city blogs section: Lost in Manchester, which chronicles "the weird, wonderful and plain ordinary in and around Manchester" Reminds me of the excellent Forgotten NY.

CMS, who writes Lost in Manchester, also has a photo blog called The Last Picture show.

Culture Club Social is not a blog but a ning site with the motto "Be proud, be creative, be in the city - Bee Manc (a reference of course to the symbol of Manchester, the industrious honeybee. Which is now endangered. Hmm.) They're interested in news of cultural events around the city.

All Over MCR is an anonymously written blog that seems to have a Manchester news and media focus, with recent posts on the launch of the Bury Independent and Channel M.

Peace out.

More cuts at the Manchester Evening News

Earlier this week, I couldn't believe it when I heard some of the people who'd lost their jobs at the MEN. These are not cub reporters by any stretch, but committed and experienced editorial-level folks who've been on the paper for years.

Outgoing online editor Sarah Hartley (Good luck, Sarah!) writes about her time at the MEN over on her personal blog. Wrestling such an old-school relic of a paper into the internet age couldn't have been an easy task, and it's unclear now what will become of the stable of blogs she developed for the MEN, including The Mancunian Way and Life Through Food. Or, for that matter, the CityLife website. You'd have to be pretty moronic to jettison websites and blog projects at this juncture, but the suits in charge of our local rag haven't ever been exactly visionary.

Seriously, is there anyone left in the building? This is what, the second, or is it the third round of cuts on the paper this year? Not to mention the fact that they've decimated the much-vaunted Channel M and cut its broadcasting time to a few hours a day.

Not to mention the fact that, when I bought my GMG-owned Rossendale Free Press yesterday, it had a notice about how the newsroom was now at Scott Place in Manchester, and if I wanted to talk with a reporter in Ramsbottom I could do so at a 2-hour "surgery" once a week. (Yeah, thanks, but news phoned in from six postcodes away doesn't sound so fresh to me. I'd much rather start a citizen-powered hyperlocal community newsblog. Any takers?)

It looks like we happen to be lucky enough to be seeing the death of the newspaper age up close and personal. It'll be painful for a while as journalism reconfigures itself for the new world order. But how this happens, what new forms emerge, and whether we as consumers of news will ultimately benefit remains very much to be seen.

In the meantime, the state of Manchester's print media is looking pretty bleak. If you've got news, you'd probably be better off shouting it from the rooftops then calling the MEN, where there soon may not be anyone to answer the phone, let alone file a story.

Manchester writing bits and bobs

A few interesting new developments in Manchester's blossoming online writing scene:

Nasty Safari is an online home for the best new prose, poetry, drama and non-fiction," they tell us. "It's a strange journey through the world that makes even the mundane exotic. And it may or may not involve zebras. Everyone involved in Nasty Safari lives, works and studies in Manchester, and we're really keen to get lots of submissions in from writers in the North West."

Willow Hewitt of Bewilderbliss has started Manchester Writing, "a new blog about readings and writing related things in Manchester. It's just getting going but I'm soon going to get a full diary of events on there of all (or possibly something between 'some' and 'most') of the readings around town."

Also just getting off the ground: web magazine An Apathetical Reader, "a creative community site that hopes to give a voice to the vast numbers of unsupported, disillusioned young people in the city," writes a shadowy figure called Alice Apathetical. "The website will feature local news, national political comment, features about Manchester, music journalism and artist profiles. By creating a unique and quality webzine I hope to support creative people blown by the current economic climate and finding the city a difficult place to meet like-minded people."

... "The magazine has strong links with The Chapel Social Centre on Platt Fields, where contributors can meet and discuss their ideas. It is also affiliated with People's Voice Media - the 'Reuters of the community' - which encourages and trains young people in visual media industries." To get involved, get in touch with Alice via the website.

WE ARE YOUNG AND WE ARE TRYING is "an art & literature zine with a cause. Each volume includes a piece of writing and a piece of art from ten different people and music and art from one more. Five are primarily writers, five are primarily artists. We hope to encourage creativity and trying new shit as well as providing a platform to show off the shit you do anyway."

There's news of a workshop linked to the upcoming Text Festival: Writers and artists 16 and up are invited to take part in a workshop series run by Bury Council. Participants will learn about Bury Art Gallery’s Text exhibition, have time to explore your creative ideas, work together to develop a script then help create a short digital animation which will go online for public viewing. Each workshop will be run by a range of artists for 2 hours each Saturday afternoon (2-4pm) for 6 weeks starting on the 16th May. For more information and a brief application form contact Farrell Renowden, Arts Development Officer at Bury council: artsdevelopment@bury.gov.uk or 0161 253 5804

I'm also nearly finished organising our first series of Rainy City Stories creative writing workshops. I'll post the details here soon.

A tale of two trees

Happy tree:



Tib Street at its most charming. Not the same without the old LSTD's outdoor tables, but still one of the loveliest spots in town.


Sad tree:



This tree died of embarassment after being forced to participate in the Triangle's horrifying mall sculpture atrocity. For shame.

More Manchester Spring Festivals

Okay, so a few alert readers let me know I left some festivals out of my last schpiel. Yes, there are more festivals in Manchester this spring. There are so many, in fact, that I ran out of steam and decided to do the update in two parts. But I didn't tell you that, did I? No, I wanted it to be a surprise. So, holy cats, look over there, there are some extra bonus festivals you didn't even expect queueing up on the calendar. It's like finding a freshly-baked strawberry rhubarb pie on your doorstep.

Futuresonic
13-16 May, venues around the city

Next year it's going to become the scarily-named FutureEverything, but first we have one more year of old school Futuresonic. And the sonic element of this year's fest is especially interesting. I knows some of y'all are going to be thrilled at the chance to see Phillip Glass perform at RNCM, the joint with the best acoustics in town. He's by far the biggest name. The delights of the festival's music programme are definitely esoteric; unless you're a trendhunting digital ambient anorak with £300 headphones you may not have heard of them, but who cares? Pick one that looks interesting (and they pretty much all do) roll up, and more likely than not get your mind blown.

I'm especially excited about Soap&Skin at Cross Street Chapel, and can't decide between the two great-looking opening night gigs. Music aside, there's the usual programme of arty hijinks around town, and the excellent social technologies summit too.

Bury Text Festival
30 April - exhibitions run into June, venues around Bury

The Text Festival is a biennial programme of exhibitions and events that span the overlapping ground between poetry and text-based art, based at the wonderful Bury Art Gallery. Director Tony Trehy's energy and curatorial nous help make this a gallery that punches way above its weight... and I'm not just saying that because I live in Bury.

This year's Textfest features artists including the American visual poet Geof Huth, Poet Ron Silliman (who has been working on a single poem since 1974) and artist Jenny Holzer among many others. The Bury Poems features poets Tony Lopez, Carol Watts and Phil Davenport responding to their stay in Bury with poems.

MAPS Festival
1-4 May, venues around the Northern Quarter
Note: this date has been changed (had the wrong one, thanks Diana.)

Wait a min... what? Last week I told you about Hungry Pigeon, which is meant to be the reinvention of last year's MAPS festival. Well, turns out there's been a mysterious schism between the organisers of that event last year. Some of them splintered off under the flag of the Hungry Pigeon, while others stayed on to organise the second MAPS festival - and both camps are claiming to be the real thing. Hmmm. Curious. Aaanyway, we get two festivals in the N. Quarter this year instead of one. So we're the winners here, no?

And the MAPS festival is looking like a grand old time. Check out that clever map on their website - it's a tree and a map at the same time. Very cool. As Chris has already pointed out, MAPS is strong with local promoters who look set to put on a good show. As for the bands playing at a spate of traditional and not-so venues around the nabe, well, again, I haven't heard of many of them. But I'm sure that's pretty much entirely down to the fact that I don't get out enough anymore. Go, enjoy, and maybe next year we'll get three NQ festivals in May.

Manchester Festivals: Spring 2009

You'd have to be some kind of dreary misanthrope to own up to not liking festivals. Why, the very word conjures a kaleidoscopic vision of dizzily cavorting through the streets while brightly-clad revelers play joyful melodies upon pipes and pan flutes.

No? Well, maybe that's just me.

Manchester's spring festival season is about to get underway, and as a public service I like to put all the relevant info together in one place, because there's a lot of it. Don't say I never did anything for you. And don't forget your pan flute. If you become disoriented, please consult the special pan flute instructions above, (courtesy of Eating Sandwiches.)

Chorlton's Big Green Festival
Sat 4 April, St. Clement's Church

A right-on riot of sustainability and folkin' madness. A surprisingly huge amount of stuff on for one day including film, music, art and dance, bike parades, ceilidhs, organic food, crafts.


Moves Festival
23-28 April, venues around the city

The theme of year's movement on screen festival is narrative. Highlights include a screening of Lotte Reiniger's shadowbox Arabic fairy-tale from 1926, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Carte Blanche to Comma Press features 12 new films adapted from poems and short stories published independently in the region - based on work by John Cooper Clarke, Hanif Kureishi, Tony Walsh, David Constantine and Brian Patten, among others. And the ever-popular moves lab gets people together to make short films in six days with a screening at the end (they need writers, so get your stories and ideas in.)


Sounds from the Other City.
Bank Holiday Sunday May 3, 3pm-late, venues around Salford.

A chance to while away an afternoon and evening listening to arty bands in various Sallywood boozers, offices and churches in the company of fuzzily inebriated but mainly happy people. The acts are curated by an eclectic bunch of local promoters. Good fun. Tickets on sale now. It usually sells out.


Hungry Pigeon
May 22-25, venues around the Northern Quarter

Last year's MAPS festival has returned with an interesting new name. This year, we're promised a large outdoor stage in a secret location for "up to 5000 people." Who's playing? Mostly a bunch of local bands. Some of them probably have a big following, but I can't get too excited about them (because I don't know who they are. Mostly.)


Eurocultured
May 24-25, New Wakefield Street (that's the one off Oxford Rd right by the train bridge, where Font and The Thirsty Scholar are.)

This festival has been going for quite a while and I always hear good things about it but I never manage to make it down. Maybe I will this year. The splendid Nouvelle Vague are coming, along with a lot of bands/djs from Europe and, um, Manchester. Plus some live art too.


Mad Ferret Festival
June 12-13, Platt Fields Park

Oh dear, looks like someone forgot to renew their domain, so I'll have to direct you to their facebook page. Not much up at the minute, though.

New Blogs: The Painterly Edition

Anthony and Diarmud run a blog called Paint my Album. It's all about replicating classic album covers using the challengingly blunt instrument of Microsoft Paint. So far they've have had 802 sent in from all over the world and are trying to get 2,000 by December. Okay, that all seems fairly straightforward, but they've ratcheted things up another level with video podcasts in which they introduce the new submissions, and, well, get a bit silly. I strongly recommend you go check it out.

The Art of Noise album cover above, #452, is by Mike Daye from Bristol. Very impressive.

Oooh, and look at all the other pretty new blogs:

Manchester Climate Fortnightly does a blog which is updated more than fortnightly.

Words and Fixtures is a blog by the lovely Clare, a veritable goddess of subediting, which is "mostly about words, but also about other things that pique my interest or irk my irkness." And it is a most formidable irkness. You can totally vent to her about any misplaced apostrophe's you encounter because she feels your pain.

Rev Porl says this is "a blog of musings, things that happen, things that I see and hear, and stuff. Nothing in particular. Just some bits."

Tomato Sauce is a new writerly blog.

I'm told Filling the Space is the blog of a Chorlton-based auntie.

Th'Arctic is a live art project from Rebecca McKnight. "During April 2009, Rebecca will attempt to become one of the first British people to ski up to 300 miles pulling a pulk (sledge) from Resolute Bay to Grise Fiord, the most northerly Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. Throughout the journey she'll be posting about her experiences on this blog. Th'Arctic blog 'stations' and photographic updates from Rebecca's journey will be on show at Cornerhouse as part of Cornerhouse Projects, BBC Radio Lancashire and on the BBC Big Screen in Manchester's Exchange Square."

Katy Murr is a freelance journalist and also a feminist.

Also, have you met David?

Manchester International Festival 2009: GO

It'sManchester International Festival time again - yay! I should have been at the media launch this afternoon but the invite didn't say "please bring your squirming, restless baby" so I decided to stay home. It was like I was there, though. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I got an up-to-the-minute MLF launch feed from the twitterrific cahoona brothers. (Sample tweet: "Good lord! They've put a donk on it! Blackout Crew are coming to town!")

Tickets are now on sale! Oh My God! And the festival programme is seriously, no shit, amazing this year, in my humble opinion. Go buy, but be prepared to be patient with Quay Tickets as the site is experiencing some wee overload problems. I've been trying to load it for about 20 minutes now.

So what to buy? If my friends are anything to go by Kraftwerk seems to be the hot ticket so far, but maybe that's just the kind of weirdos I hang out with. They're performing with Steve Reich at The Manchester Velodrome - need I say more?

It felt like a kiss, a crazy multilevel multimedia promenade about American pop music in the sixties with Damon Albarn/Adam Curtis/Punchdrunk/Kronos Quartet. The Monkey of 2009?

Sure to be popular is a double dose of hometown heroes: Elbow vs. The Halle.# Antony and The Johnsons with Manchester Camerata should be saw-weet as well. And Rufus Wainright's Prima Donna opera will probably sell a few tickets. The Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed performance (yes, The Clintons of the East Village are coming to Manchester) has got to be my pick for hipster-date-of-choice.

There's a whole host of cool art stuff incl Jeremy Deller's parade, a play about Bingo and the installation of Zaha Hadid's whole new chamber music hall in Manchester Art Gallery. Oh its all too much. It all sounds so great. But what am I, personally, most excited about? De la soul are taking us all back to the Daisy age. Apparently it was twenty years ago. Which means I'm officially old.

Anyway, more on this later, I'm sure...

New Blogs: The Dewey Decimal Edition

This week I'm shelving:

000
Technical Faults
One Greener Day
Redswish
Big Chip Blog

096
The Master of Complications

320
Voice Against Empire

534

Envirosonic

635
Ditches and Hoes

700
The Shrieking Violet

780
Helen of Troy Does Countertop Writings

811
The Other Room

921
Black Dogs
Flanerie
Not a kid and not that friendly

Preston goings-on

So, I used to live within spitting distance of "England's newest city." For years, nothing going on, and I mean nothing. Okay, nothing besides A Free Man in Preston, an occasional exhibition at the Harris and indie movies at UCLAN. And gaping at the bus station. But really, mehsville.

So I move. And what happens? A scant few months later, my lovely friend Ruth opens up The Continental, a gorgeous pub on the banks of the Ribble with good food and serious cultural chops. Dammit.

The Continental folks have launched themselves wholeheartedly into fostering arty goings-on with They Eat Culture, an arts development company, and they've gotten last year's best writing MBA winner (and Prestonite) Jenn Ashworth to be in charge of the writing bit of it. She's just launched the Preston Writing Network, which runs writing classes, writer's groups and live lit nights. You can keep up with them on the PWN blog. So now there's lots of good stuff happening in Preston, which is now almost completely inaccessible to me.

And in case you hadn't heard, Jenn's debut novel, A Kind of Intimacy, has just been published, and is getting lots of nice things written about it. Mazel tov, Jenn.

(Photo of Preston bus station by Flickr user Tinm@an)

Manchester Blogmeet at Centro Tuesday

I've sorted things out for our blogmeet. Unfortunately Trof NQ couldn't give us a dedicated space that would be big enough, but Centro can give us their whole basement area. Centro is on Tib Street towards the northern end heading away from the city centre.

We'll be meeting there on Tuesday, March 10 from 7-9pm. Just come downstairs. They do very nice beers and drinks as well as coffees and non-alcoholic bevvies. They don't do food as far as I know, so maybe grab something nearby (Hunters BBQ?) beforehand if you're coming straight from work. I'll bring the nametags.

Centro say they have wireless there in case anyone wants to liveblog. However, anyone showing too much love to their laptop or mobile phone will be gently encouraged to extricate themselves from their devices and engage in real world interaction. That's what it's all about, folks. See Samantha Bee's behaviour in this Daily Show clip as an example of what NOT to do...

Please reply to this and say you're planning on coming so I have an idea of numbers. (Unless you already replied to the earlier post.) See you there!

Manchester Blogmeet: The Fellowship of the Ping

Anyone feel like getting together for a blogmeet? There are loads of new folks on the blogroll I've never met, and it'd be real nice to see some of my old blogging buddies. We never talk anymore.

I'm thinking upstairs at Trof NQ might be a good place. It's usually fairly quiet up there before the DJ starts at 9 (and they can reserve us tables). Plus they do all manner of drinks as well as good food in case anyone's hungry.

I am most eager to avoid clashing with any other Important Business though (are the Decemberists in town? heh heh) so anyone who might like to come let me know if Tuesday March 10 is a really bad idea. We could do the following night, or another night entirely. Suggestions appreciated.

Birdbrain, me?

I just wrote a long indignant post about signing up for Twitter even though I'm already at maximum social network overload. And then I looked back and realised I'd written the same long indignant post with practically the same goddamned title when I signed up for MySpace and then Facebook. Nice to know I cover so much new ground with this blog.

Ya basta! Yeah, I know what I said. I'm giving it a shot. We'll see. But if I ever use the word "twestion" in this blog, or indeed anywhere at all, you have my permission to beat me about the head with a beta-tested android phone.

Anyway, I'm @katefeld if anyone wants to read my broadcast inanities. Though apparently I'm repetitive.

(Twitter bird cupcakes by Tempyra.)

Bewilderbliss, Best of Manchester, Apartment

Some odds and ends I've been meaning to mention:

Bewilderbliss (love the name) is a new literary magazine which launches next month. It showcases the poetry and prose of Manchester and MMU postgrad creative writing students. There's a launch party starting at 8pm March 2 in the basement of The Deaf Institute with readings from the magazine and an open mic slot.

Editor Willow Hewitt says she received over 70 submissions for the first issue, on the theme of 'The Guilty'. She reports that "the magazine will be available at outlets around town including Blackwells and the Cornerhouse, and you can stop a girl with orange hair in the street to buy an issue because chances are it's me."

The 2009 Best of Manchester Awards are now open for entries so if you know someone who kicks some ass in the fields of art, music or fashion, or you do yourself, get those entries in before May 9. (Hey Urbis, how about adding writing? Us young writers could use a £2,000 career-building jackpot too.)

Finally, it looks like the swan song for Apartment, at least for a while. The blog-savvy exhibition space in a council tower block flat is opening its last exhibition this evening in co-curator, artist and man-about-town Paul Harfleet's home. Giorgio Sadotti is the featured artist. There are a lot of openings happening tonight, but if you've been meaning to go for a while, now's your chance.

New blogs: The Homegrown Edition

Here's the latest in new bloggage around Manchester:

I Can Grow It is a blog tracking the progress of Susan's allotment in Stockport. It's a lovely idea and the pictures are cracking, like the one above.

Canuckistani in Limey Land is written by Rob, a North American exile recently arrived in Manchester. That's right, we're taking over. And any furrners thinking about becoming an official citizen of this grey and pleasant land (as I am) should read this post pronto.

The world kaleidoscope is a new visual art and culture blog.

Manchester is Ace is written by Carolyn Hughes and looks to be mainly about eating out in Manchester.

Edifying Discourse is Mark Rainey's personal blog.

"A year in France. Me, him and Cleo the cat. Not looking for an old barn to do up. Nor a second home, couldn't afford it, and anyway, one house is bloody hard work to maintain, so why have two? The pound has crashed and our income with it. It's beautiful. It's quiet. I know absolutely no-one. I love it. But what am I here for exactly? Good question. Anybody round here know the answer?" That's Manc in France.

Eric Olthwaite's blog is about "Boozers, Bands and Buildings. Comedy, Films and Trains. Rugby, pies and moans." His recently published Rainy City Story put one of my favorite old man pubs on the map.

More writer's blogs:

Annie Clarkson's Forgetting the Time

Matthew Hill, who writes weird fiction.

Richard Evans' Uncanny Valley

Dave Hartley is writing a short story a week for a year and posting them on his blog Lon Lon Ranch.

Rainy City Love Stories winner

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
THIS JUST IN...


We've just announced the winner of our Rainy City Stories Valentine's Day Competition. Craig Melville is the lucky man - his story The Shortest, The Coldest took the prize. For more details, and to find out who the four finalists were, check it out here on the Rainy City Stories site.

Manchester media update

It's an interesting time for Manchester's media world. As in the old Chinese curse: "may you live in interesting times."

Metro: Late last year they laid off a large percentage of Manchester Metro Life staff, and now lo and behold, the section seems to have entered the giant shrinking machine. Shame, that - it was one of the last places you could find out what was going on. Now it seems Metro has jumped on the old media blogging bandwagon. The Manchester Life blog is written by the few bods left over there in the scads of free time they must now have (sarcasm, that was.) Not a lot on there yet, but it's good to see them entering the fray. There's definitely a need for more cultural coverage here, online or off.

Word has it that Time Out have finally pulled the plug on the Time Out Manchester website they were hilariously updating with new content quarterly (yeah, check in once a season to find out what's on!) I guess this means there is now officially no hope of them ever producing the mag. I'll add that collector's edition issue one to my Manchester magazine graveyard, a collection that is becoming so large it may soon require its own room.

If there's no way to make a profit on a cultural mag in Manchester, maybe it's time to start hitting up the non-profit sector. That's exactly what the forthcoming Chimp magazine has done. The long-in-the-works first issue of Chimp, out Saturday for £1.80, was produced with the help of a £10,000 Awards for All community grant - sparking some debate over on NW media site How-Do

For my money (£2, if you're asking) one of the most exciting magazine launches in ages has been the appearance of the lovely Belle Vue, a tiny collectively-produced fanzine that embodies the real spirit of Manchester. And is somewhat preoccupied with where to get a good greasy spoon breakfast, but I can completely understand that. You can get it at Piccadilly Records and Cornerhouse, and there should be another one out soon. So, you see, it's not all gloom and doom. These days, small and homespun trumps big and glossy every time.

Love Saves The Day becomes An Outlet

The bad news about Love Saves The Day going bust (yes, for real this time) has a silver lining: an excellent new cafe has moved into its old digs in the Carver's Warehouse, the strange, ubermodern cube on Dale Street by Piccadilly basin.

An Outlet has left some things the same (shelves lined with posh groceries, a globetrotting soup and sarnie menu) and changed many others. The interior has been given a coat of black chalkboard paint and there was a short story about someone eating clams taking up most of one wall the day I went. There are also international newspapers, interesting books to peruse, and storyboard pads and pens should genius strike mid-pain au raisin.

It has a friendly buzz like the canteen of a busy creative firm, which is probably because it is effectively the canteen of creative firm Four23, which had just relocated upstairs when LSTD crashed and clubbed together with another tenant, engineering firm Martin Stockley Associates, to prevent the site from falling into the hands of StarbucksCaffeNeroCosta. Hard to imagine that lot being interested, though. The site is far too quiet, off in the cinematic no-man's-land between the Northern Quarter, Ancoats and Piccadilly. And thanks to their free wifi, it's my new favorite place to blog on the hoof.

New blogs: Chock full o'writers

One of the cool side benefits of running the Rainy City Stories project is getting to find out about a lot of writer's blogs. Gosh, just look at all of them:

Fictionmaker

It's Alrite, Ma (I'm Only Writing)

Gill's Blog

Broughton Writing Lives

Spooky Action, Spooky Aiden

Natalie Uninterrupted

No Chance: A Quarter to One

Jockey Full of Bourbon

Atomised Amnesia

Writing because I have to

Santiago's Dead Wasp

I am going to continue to add blogs I get tipped off to through the site to the blogroll. I am assuming here that if you write a blog that's live on the internet and are putting it forward as a link with something you submit to be published online, you're quite happy for people to find out about it and maybe go read your writing. However, I've been wrong about this before, so if I post a link to your blog and you didn't want me to, just get in touch and it will be stricken from the record. I will, however, advise you to stop writing a blog and go buy yourself a moleskine.

Over in the realm of personal blogs, we have new additions in the blogs by mothers who write about their kids but also write interesting things about themselves subcategory: My Shitty Twenties and my neighbour Adventures of a Sleepless Toddler.

Another American expat blogger in Manchester? Yup, check it out: Uncouth American

He's cynical, and his name is Ben. He's Cynical Ben

Image: Will Freeborn's Girl in White Jacket, part of the Moleskine Project

Inauguration Day

It's hard being an expat today, thinking of all my friends in DC for the inauguration celebrations and wishing I was there. I feel cut off over here, but I guess that this is payment for all those times I smugly joked about hating Bush so much that I had actually left the country, like some pinko draft dodger who made a run for the border. And bragged about having universal healthcare and state maternity pay.

But it's a wonderful day.

After years, decades, of the American people being so down on their country and so resigned to disappointment in politics and government it's delightfully weird to see everyone so gaga, so starry-eyed and hopeful about the future and drunk on goodwill to all men.

My country has turned into a Frank Capra movie. And I wish I was there to experience it, because the milk of human kindness has a short shelf-life. The same press that lionized Obama could turn on him at the first shaky decision or PR gaffe. He's won a questionable prize: leadership of a country with problems that would take the ablest of leaders years to begin to fix. How long will people give him?

Still, I'm going to try to put these worries aside and just relish the joy while it's here. Sometimes the good guys win, and sometimes they get the chance to make things better. Let's be hopeful while we can.

Lovely Levenshulme

In the Manchester neighbourhood standings, Levenshulme seems to get more than its fair share of love. I've only been there a few times myself and didn't really spend enough time to get a real sense of the place, so I've always wondered: what is it about Levenshulme that inspires such devotion?

The newest manifestation of this good vibe emanating from South Manchester is Love Levenshulme. It's a project that invites L-hulme residents to write the things they love about living there on a special postcard, which they can give or send to people or businesses they want to show their appreciation to.

Project organiser Matt Clements describes it on the Love Levenshulme blog as "a kind of underground viral appreciation marketing."

He explains it thusly: “It all started off as a little homespun idea to try to show some appreciation for people in the community who do the little everyday things that make a big difference. I’d be strolling round Levenshulme with my children, pointing out gardens where people had made a real effort, or meeting friendly people in shops, and I wanted to find a way of saying ‘thanks.’” What a lovely idea. Visit LL HQ to find out where to get the postcards, and to read what some Levenshulme-based bloggers have to say about their hood.

(Image - which is NOT one of the Love Levenshulme postcards, Matt would like me to point out - sourced from Lady Levenshulme. Who else?)

Seven things

Okay, so I just read Follow the Yellow Brick Road and am now infected with this meme and I need to write seven things about myself here on this blog.

1. I have just joined the Ramsbottom Choral Society. I may be the youngest person there by a good few years. Nearly everyone I spoke to had been singing in the choir for 15, 20 or 25 years. I wonder if I will still be singing in this choir in 25 years. It may take me that long to learn how to sing Mozart's Requiem, which is hard, especially if you were never that good at reading music in the first place and haven't been singing for a long time.

2. I had pneumonia twice when I was three and I was seriously ill. One of my first memories is being delirious with fever and seeing pink and purple rabbits on the ceiling. I also remember that I was sick over Halloween and I was very put out about missing the trick or treating. My mom let me wear my Donald Duck mask in bed.

3. I am a science fiction and fantasy geek, though these days its much cooler to call it speculative fiction. I worship Ursula Le Guin, Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman, Robin McKinley, Kelly Link, David Mitchell and Roger Zelazny. When I was 14 I joined the Doctor Who Appreciation Society and they sent me an "intergalactic passport." I still have it. Haven't used it yet.

4. I am partial to polar bears. Also, otters. Not so sure about the ferrets.

5. I have two scars. A crescent shaped one on my knee is from New Year's Eve, um... 2005, I think, when I was dancing somewhat creatively at a party at Islington Mill and fell down on a grate. The other is a fingertip-sized depression on my ankle, my souvenir of a motorcycle accident in Taiwan in 1997. The doctor said I didn't need stitches, which was totally wrong, but what did I know?

6. Today I am obsessed with the song Safety Dance by Men Without Hats. I forgot about this song for a long time and need to make up for that by playing it a lot until I get tired of it and move on to a different song, like Jenny (867-5309) by Tommmy Tutone.

7. I take milk and honey in my tea, which British people seem to find bizarre.

There. If you've read this and you have a blog, you've caught the meme. You are so infected. The only cure is to go write seven things about yourself on your blog and link back to this post, if you feel like it and you have the time. Don't feel compelled to. But you should. I think it's interesting to learn random things about people. The trick is to do it fast and not think too hard about what you're writing.

Mules, soup and other literary matters

Did I say I had a billion things to blog about? Make that a billion and ten. No, wait, twelve. Two more very important things just winged their way into my inbox. Here's some literary things...

Tim Woodall writes to us from Chorlton to tell us that he and Joe Patrick will be managing a writers and artists blog by the name of SOUP.They're seeking submissions, but no old farts of 27 or 34 need apply: "To submit, you need to be between the ages of 20 and 25 and currently live in Greater Manchester. It might seem strange that we are only accepting submissions from people within this age bracket, but... as practicing young artists it is much easier to find established publications with strict submission guidelines and stiff competition than it is to stumble across platforms more suited to our most recent creative efforts."

M. from Manchester indymedia wrote to let us know about The Mule Magazine, a collaborative, UK-wide grassroots news site for justice and peace. They're not big on bylines, but they have a smattering of stuff excerpted from speeches and znet articles as well as other pieces presumably written by members of the collective. And they have a pretty interesting Manchester page which is strong on local activism news, though it could use some updating. Anyway, check it out.

Peter Hartey of Poetica has passed on news of an online poetry competition designed to raise awareness of Mines Advisory Group, an NGO based in Manchester. The MAG Poetry Prize has an interesting setup - the entrants are the judges, and their entry fees add up to the prize money. The prize is being run by Poetic Republic, an offshoot of Poetica, the writer's group based at the Central Library which has been going for yonks. Nice website, great cause.

Rainy City Love Stories contest

Welcome to 2009, our shiny new year. I have about a billion things to blog about, but they will all have to wait 'til tomorrow. I can tell you this, though: We're running a Valentine's day themed contest on Rainy City Stories. Yeah, I know the holiday was created by the greeting card industry and is just an excuse for hapless couples to be overcharged for bad food served on pink doilies once a year. We're celebrating with writing. See below (and apologies if you've already gotten this in another format since I'm cutting and pasting here. You people can stop reading now.)

Rainy City Stories wants your love. We also want your love stories and poems. In honour of Valentine’s Day, we’re offering a wonderful prize for the best Rainy City Love Story we receive in the next month.

Whether you're an old romantic or a cynic, we invite you to tell us your tales (real or imagined) of falling in, out, or over love in our city. But don’t restrict yourselves to traditional romances; we’re willing to interpret “love story” in a wider sense. The winning submission could be about a more abstract kind of love. It could even be an anti-love poem, or a rant against all things loved-up
The winning piece of writing will be published on our website on the eve of Valentine’s Day amid a shower of cupids and lace bows and twinkly-eyed kittens. And the winner will receive a big fat £50 Borders gift voucher (the kind of thing that really makes us writer-types swoon), kindly donated by our friends at the Manchester Literature Festival.

Here’s the lowdown: Entries must be submitted by close of business on Tuesday, February 10. Please submit short stories or poems through the cunning mechanism on our website and put the words “love contest entrant” at the top of the story. Entrants should only submit their own original work, and writing that has not previously been published. Also, by entering the competition you grant RCS the right to publish the piece online.

(Picture by Gregoire Chabrol.)

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

The Ramchizzle

I'm moving.

At any moment now, the folks at BT are going to cut the cord and I will have no internets until they see fit to connect me up in my new place - and based on my long and wearisome experience with BT I fear that may take, oh, a few weeks on the outside. Factor in Christmas-related inertia and we may be well into 2009 before I'm online again.

But the good news is I'm moving to a place with many nicknames. Ramsbottom is also known as Rammy, Rambo and, my favorite, Tup's Arse (Tup is old slang for a ram, oh American readers). It's a Pennine mill town just a hair inside the Greater Manchester border. Which will make me, like, an actual Mancunian. Or something.

Good things about Ramsbottom I've found out about so far include the delicious Ramsons, a steam train, the lovely Nuttall Park and an eerie chippie called The Wayward Tyke.

Anyone in Ramsbottom? Give us a shout.

(Ramsbottom photo from Flickr user topdogdjstew.

To do: red dust from space, social media and dough

A few cool things to squeeze in before we roll out the advent calendars.

Jackie Kay has written seven new songs on the theme of HIV, and seven different composers (David Horne, Bechara el Khoury, Colin Matthews, Craig Urquhart, Niel van der Watt, Errollyn Wallen and Marc Yeats) have composed music to go with them.
The result is a secular requiem called "Walking along the red-dust road," which will premiere at the Bridgewater Hall at 8pm on Dec. 1, World Aids Day. Mark Elder and the Halle will also perform Faure's Requiem, one of my most favourite pieces of music ever. And tickets will raise money for international charity ActionAid's Mission Malawi. Tickets: £15/ £25 from The Bridgewater Hall Box Office, 0161 907 9000 or online here.

Those crafty Islington Mill folk have put together a smorgasboard of christmas present possibilities at an impromptu shop at 142 Chapel Street, near Salford central train station. 'FROM SPACE' is a temporary art and fashion store selling one off pieces made at t'mill and further afield. Products on sale including fashion, accessories, clothing and t-shirts, large scale photographs, handmade clothes, ceramics, fine art prints, hand-crafted furniture, etc. Go between 3-7 for the launch this Thursday and you might get some mulled wine or something.

Also, the craft and design centre is packed to the rafters with gorgeousness this year. And the cafe there is making some tasty sandwiches. They're having Sunday shopping launch day from 1-4 this weekend. Go for a 10 percent discount, music from Manchester Community Choir and Dr Butlers Hatstand Medicine Band, and the obligatory mulled wine.

The Northern Quarter has a brand spanking new pizza place on High Street: Dough. Haven't been yet but planning on making a trip soon; a family-friendly place for chow in the area is much needed. There's a pharmacy-themed bar next door called Apotheca as well.

And last but not least, Social Media Cafe Manchester has gotten off to a strong start. I couldn't make last month's inaugural event but I hear it was overrun with people merrily tweeting, yelping, blogging and pinging. If you know what those things are or do them yourself you might want to head to the next one, which is Monday 8th December - 6pm to 9pm at The Northern. FACT curator Heather Corcoran will be the guest speaker. For future reference, Social Media cafe lives here.

Theft! Intellectual Theft!

I thought last week's Blog Lab event at MDDA went well. But today I'm amazed to learn that it may have been the site of a heinous literary heist. Over at The Case-Book of Desiderus, the shadowy Shoscomber investigates a most mysterious chain of events:

"I have to be smart, keep my ears and eyes open, approach this like a detective. This town is a small one. I will get to the bottom of this!"

New blogs: The hallelujah edition

Ahhh....Now that I've stopped levitating, and the choirs of jubilant angels have settled down a little bit, I can finally get back to the business of blogging. Time to introduce some new characters for the blogroll.

A few writerly blogs: Nice Big Shiny Teeth , Maladjusted and Making Eggs.

A photo blog: Native Photography.

A couple of music blogs: New ears and A boy like Thom.

A personal blog: Sometimes funny is all I have

And Tillerpop, where comedy songman Matt Tiller (who I met at last weekend's Blog Lab) has a whole bunch of videos and podcasts up, as well as writings about various things. Enjoy.

The storm is passing over

We did it!

Literary magazine madness

New literary magazines are springing up like mushrooms all over the Northwest (last week Mancubist tipped me off to two more I didn't know about.) But there are plenty of established mags still out there doing their thing, like ... uh, really big mushrooms. Sorry, it's early and I'm out of coffee.

Anyway, check this out: Succour Magazine will be hosting an evening of reading and drinks in Manchester to mark the launch of its eighth issue, 'Icons,' featuring new fiction and poetry from both established and unsung writers. It's at the Briton's Protection pub on November 28 at 8. Anyone welcome to attend or read. They're also calling for submissions for the next issue on the theme of Fantasies. More info here.

Swings and Roundabouts (creative saviours of the northwest) have a shiny new website where you can download all of the stuff from their first six issues. It's been on a bit of a hiatus for the last year, but is still very much alive and kicking and looking to publish new stuff.

Transmission no. 12 is out and looking good - I really enjoyed this issue, especially the profile of Joe Stretch and Chris Killen's piece on Richard Brautigan. Editor Graham Foster says the magazine will be making a pit stop for a while to rest on its laurels and ponder the future before it returns to us looking tanned, rested and ten years younger.

Blogging workshops: Autumn 2008

Non-bloggers: Were you so inspired by the awesome display of blogging might Wednesday night that you're determined to start your own blog? If so, you're in luck: Chris of Mancubist and I are running two blogging workshops aimed at total beginners*.

(*You should know how to use a computer. You should know how to use a mouse and how to navigate the internet with it. But that's about it.)

Two sessions:
Saturday 22 November, 10-12am Gorton Library
Saturday 29 November 10-12am Crumpsall Library


And... we're doing something new this year: a blog lab. It's an open surgery for people who are already blogging but want some help making their blog all shiny and exciting. Drop in and we'll show you how to pimp it up with the freshest widgets, and also give you some ideas for new and startling things you can do with your content.

Saturday 8 November, 1-3pm
Manchester Digital Development Agency, Portland Street
(drop in whenever you like during the session, but please let us know you’re coming.)

The workshops and blog lab are free, but numbers are limited so please book. You can ring the Literature Festival office at 0161 236 5555 or email admin AT manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk. Please let us know when booking if you have any accessibility needs.

2008 Manchester Blog Awards: The Winners

What a great night! Thanks to our talented readers, to everyone who came and packed out Matt and Phred's, and to those who helped make it happen in other ways, either by blogging about it or otherwise helping us spread the love.

And the winners are...

Best New Blog:
Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Judges: "It seems honest, and charming. The personality of the blogger comes across well, and I like how varied it is."

Best Writing on a Blog:
Every Day I Lie a Little

Judges: "Beautifully written and a pleasure on the eyes. I really like Jenn's style, sense of perspective and humour."

Best Arts and Culture Blog:
Winner: Northernights

Judges:"Very Manchester. Gives Mancubist a run for its money."

Best Personal Blog:
Travels with my baby

Judges: "The personality really comes across, and, considering it's subject, it really isn't very 'twee' and is engaging even if you’ve never held a baby."

Best City or Neighbourhood blog:
Manchester Buses

Judges: "Blogging is about passion and information. No one could ever accuse Manchester Buses of not believing in what they write. I've also used this site to gather news!"

CityLife.co.uk Manchester Blog of the Year:

Travels with my Baby

I'll try to link to all of the (sure to be many) accounts of what happened last night here: Check out The Mancunian Way

Leave a comment with your link if you want me to add yours. And if you have photos to share, Alan at MDDA has created a Flickr group here. The picture above is from Sam Easterby-Smith, who has many lovely pictures of the night up on his site.

One week 'til the Manchester Blog Awards

So why should you come to the blog awards on Wednesday night?

You should come because we'll have all four of this year's best writing nominees in the hizzouse to give us a sampling of their wordy wares: Sally Cook (Nine Chains to the Moon), Socrates Adams-Florou (Chicken and Pies), Jenn Ashworth (Every day I lie a little) and Maureen Ward, ameneusis to Miss EP Niblock (Diary of a Bluestocking) will all read.

Maria Roberts, last year's personal blog winner for Single Mother on the Verge, will read from her forthcoming book based on her blog. It's due out in the spring from Penguin and we're beaming with pride.

Literary dynamo and cat fancier Chris Killen, whose blog Day of Moustaches won last year's coveted best writing award, will be reading from his new book The Bird Room (Canongate). Then I'll ask him some pertinent questions, and we'll have a Q&A so you can ask him some impertinent ones.

Music bloggers jonthebeef of Black Country Grammar and James Yer Mam! will be manning the wheels of steel during the evening's musical interludes and have hand-selected rare and strange tunes for your personal delectation.

And of course you get to find out who won this year's six blog awards, including the extra-special CityLife Manchester Blog of the Year award.

If you're coming you don't have to book a ticket in advance, but you can here if you're the sort of person who likes to make extra sure you're going to get in. (We had some problems before with the booking website saying it was sold out. It isn't.) Otherwise, show up with £2 in hand. You should come to Matt and Phred's Jazz Club on Tib Street after 6:30 and before 7pm on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Pictured above: Ali's bird room.

CityLife Blog of the Year

Holy cats! Stop the presses!

The folks at CityLife.co.uk have stepped in at the eleventh hour and upped the ante for Mancunian blogstars. They're sponsoring a new blog award this year: Manchester Blog of the Year. Our judging panel will pick the winner from among the shortlisted blogs. And the winner gets a big fat £300.

Yeah, £300. I know. It's a lot, isn't it?

The winner will be announced at the blog awards night on the 22nd of October.

I don't know about you, but I'm dead excited.

Rainy City Stories

I'm really delighted to announce the launch of a project that Chris (Mancubist) and I have been cooking up on the sly for some time now:

Rainy City Stories is a website that publishes new writing set in Manchester. It uses a Google map of the city to organise stories or poetry linked to particular places. Readers can click on a place marked by the little cloud icon to read a piece of writing associated with that spot.

Who can write for this site? Anybody can. We're open to all submissions of unpublished work. To get things rolling, we've commissioned pieces from four outstanding Mancunian writers: Jackie Kay, Mike Duff, Nicholas Royle and Rajeev Balasubramanyam. They're up now - go take a look.

But now we want YOU to send us your stories, poems or bits of memoir. If we like them, we'll put them on the map.

We've got big plans for the future, too.

We'll be publishing more commissioned writing in 2009, and expanding our site to include photography, graphics, and audio and video readings to accompany the words. A series of related writing workshops and a live literature event featuring some of the Rainy City Stories writers will be part of the 2009 Manchester Literature Festival. And we're investigating a fantastically exciting new possibility that would involve some of the best writing from the website, but we can't say much more about that yet.

Erm, what else should we tell you? The project is part of the Manchester Literature Festival's Freeplay programme, and it's funded by the good people of Arts Council England. Chris designed the site on Wordpress and is in charge of the techy stuff. I'll be doing the editing. No ferrets were harmed in the making of this website.

I'd love to hear what people think about the site so far - if you have some thoughts, leave a comment or email me at themanchizzle AT gmail DOT com.

The Manchester Review launches

It's always good to see a new literary journal starting up, but to my mind this one couldn't be more exciting. The University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing this week launches The Manchester Review, edited by the Centre's co-directors John McAuliffe and Ian McGuire. Most intriguingly, "it will depart from the medium’s conventions by existing only online, with new issues appearing each spring and autumn. These will often include broadcasts of new music, public debates and video pieces, as well as visual art, fiction and poetry."

The first issue is up now, with work from the likes of Paul Muldoon, Ali Smith, John Banville, Matt Welton and Chris Killen. Some more about the publication, from its website:

“The Manchester Review takes its cue from their proactive promotion of new writing, but uses online media to show and sponsor the interplay of poetry, fiction, music, visual art and essays by new and established practitioners. We hope that it will find new readers and audiences for exciting and innovative creative work, which is steeped in traditional virtues.

“This will be accompanied by the Review’s lively critical blog, which will take the temperature of - and maybe sometimes set the agenda for – the contemporary arts in the UK and beyond.”

Manchester is becoming quite the place for online literary endeavour. It seems like every week or so I add another couple of lit bloggers to the blogroll. We're blessed the with Literature Festival's geek-friendly Freeplay programme, and blogtastic live lit nights like no point in not being friends, with its tech-aided readings, Facebook group and antics on youtube. Even more traditional publishers and publications like Comma Press and Transmission are increasingly doing stuff online.

And new paper publications all seem to all have blogs, often as their main web presence. One such is the lovely Wufniks, started by students at the aforementioned writing school, with a fantastic tagline: "a mishegoss of shiny new words."

2008 Manchester Blog Awards Shortlist

Here is the 2008 Manchester Blog Awards Shortlist. We had 107 separate nominations this year, coming in from as far away as San Francisco. There was such a wealth of great stuff that it was harder than ever to do the shortlisting, particularly in the Best Writing on a Blog category (by far our most nominated-for.)

The force is strong with you, Manchester bloggers. Many thanks to all those who nominated.


Best New Blog:

Dear Kitty
Coco LaVerne
Follow The Yellow Brick Road
14sandwiches


Best Writing on a Blog:

Diary of a Bluestocking
Every day I lie a little
Nine chains to the moon
Chicken and Pies

Best Arts and Culture Blog:

Scatterdrum
Quit This Pampered Town
Northernights
Max Dunbar

Best Personal Blog:

Travels with my baby
Single Mother on the Verge
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
40three

Best Neighbourhood Blog:

Hyde Daily Photo
Mancubist
Lady Levenshulme
Manchester Bus

This will now go to our panel of judges, which includes Sarah Hartley, blogger and online editor at the Manchester Evening News, Dave Carter of Manchester Digital Development Agency, Richard Fair of BBC Manchester and author Chris Killen, winner of last year's Best Writing on a Blog award.

The winners (who each get £50 and a large metal studded belt that is very heavy) will be announced at the blog awards event Weds Oct 22 at Matt and Phred's Jazz Club.