Manchester Literature Festival is committed to commissioning new work by established and emerging authors and presenting them at unique events. You can download digital legacies from these projects below.

Patricia Duncker was appointed writer in residence at The Midland Hotel in April 2011 and was co-commissioned by The Midland and Manchester Literature Festival to write a short story set in the hotel. The resulting story, The Madonna at the Midland, was performed at a special Afternoon Tea event as part of Manchester Literature Festival in The Midland’s French Restaurant on Wednesday 19th October 2011, and you can download the story below.

Jean Sprackland was commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival to produce a series of poems responding to the exhibition Ford Madox Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer at Manchester Art Gallery. The resulting poems WORK, ETC were performed at a special event as part of Manchester Literature Festival at Manchester Art Gallery on Tuesday 18th October 2011.

If you want to see the inspiration behind Jean's poems, the Ford Madox Brown exhibition continues at Manchester Art Gallery until 29th January 2012.

You can download podcasts of Jean's poems here and download a PDF of the poems below.

Hotel Splendide was co-commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Camerata and was performed by Michael Symmons Roberts as part of the Manchester Camerata’s Portrait of Music and Words concert at the Royal Northern College of Music on Saturday 15th October 2011.

The concert will be available to watch on medici tv until mid December. And you can download a PDF of the poems below.

The second Manchester Sermon - Art and Life - was written by Sir Andrew Motion and delivered at Manchester Cathedral on 11 October 2011. Andrew was then joined by the Reverend Richard Coles for a discussion about the sermon as a literary art form and its place in contemporary culture. The Manchester Sermon was co-commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Cathedral. You can download the text of the sermon below.

The inaugural Manchester Sermon – The Temptation of Jesus – was written by Jeanette Winterson and delivered at Manchester Cathedral on 21 October 2010. The Manchester Sermon was co-commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Cathedral. You can download the text of the Sermon below.

Manchester Literature Festival was delighted to commission the first English translation of the short story Family Secrets by Shanghai writer Ding Liying. The story was translated by Nicky Harman and presented at a live discussion event programmed in association with the Confucius Institute at the University of Manchester on October 19th 2010. You can download the English version of the story below. Family Secrets is also to be featured in an anthology of Chinese short stories to be published by Comma press in 2011.

We hope to make the Manchester Translation a regular feature of the festival, and, over time, bring you stories and poetry from other cultures around the world.

John Siddique was jointly commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Art Gallery to respond to the exhibition Exporting Beauty: Pilkington’s Pottery and Tiles, featuring over 100 pots and tiles made by the world famous Pilkington’s Tile and Pottery Company between 1893 and 1938. The resulting poems draw inspiration from the exhibits and the craftsmen and craftswomen who lovingly fashioned them; channelling nature in all its glory, from the elements that forged the clay to the animals at Belle Vue Zoo which one of the artists used to visit as part of his observational process.

You can download a PDF version of John's commisisoned poems Lustre below, and watch two films of commissioned poems Lustre and Belle Vue Narrative produced by Littlestar Media Productions. The films will also be shown on the BBC Big Screen in Exchange Square Manchester throughout the year so look out for them while you're out shopping!