About MLF

Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) began trading in 2006 and was built on the legacy of its successful predecessor, Manchester Poetry Festival. MLF provides unique and imaginative opportunities for audiences to experience high quality live literature via an annual festival format and associated project activities.

MLF Objectives

Our main objectives are:

  • to showcase the very best in contemporary writing from across the world
  • to commission innovative literature from established and emerging writers
  • to provide opportunities for writers to experiment with new media in the production and presentation of their work
  • to promote Manchester as a hub for international cultural exchange
  • to provide inspirational opportunities for children and young people to engage in creative writing and reading activities.

Company Information

Company Registration No. 4369668. Charity Registration No. 1121276.

Festival Personnel

Acting Co-Directors: Sarah-Jane Roberts & Jon Atkin
Festival Director: Cathy Bolton
Children and Young People's Programme Coordinator: Jennie Brown
Festival Fundraiser: Charlotte Platt
Digital Engagement Coordinator and Copywriter: Kate Feld
Event Manager: Ian Hyde

Board of Trustees: Katherine Beacon, Jan Bradley, Jerome de Groot, Ed Farrelly, Matthew Frost, Colette Morgan-Ford, Punam Ramchurn & Alison Spenceley.

Press & PR: Lethal Communications, Catharine Braithwaite & Shelagh Bourke

Festival Patrons

Paul Abbott (award-winning TV writer and producer)
Carol Ann Duffy (UK Poet Laureate)
Jenni Murray (broadcaster and anchor of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour)
Miranda Sawyer (broadcaster and journalist)
Michael Schmidt (poet, founder and editorial director of Carcanet Press & PN Review, Professor of Poetry at Glasgow University)