An Evening with Douglas Stuart

MLF Members can book advance tickets on Monday 20 March. Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday 22 March. MLF Get Closer Membership starts at £20 pa. To buy an MLF Get Closer Membership and book advance tickets visit HERE

Following on from his debut event in Manchester last Spring, Manchester Literature Festival is excited to welcome back best-selling author Douglas Stuart for an intimate evening at Central Library. Join us to hear Douglas discuss his literary and cultural influences from his favourite working class and Scottish writers to the LGBTQ+ artists that have inspired and influenced him. He’ll also share the challenges of adapting his Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain into an 8-part television drama for the BBC.

One of the boldest writers of his generation, Douglas Stuart was born and raised in working class Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began a career in textiles and fashion design. He spent a decade writing his debut novel while balancing the demands of his day job. Shuggie Bain was finally published in 2020 and went on to win both Debut of the Year and Book of the Year at the British Book Awards alongside the Booker Prize. In 2021 a mural inspired by Shuggie Bain was unveiled on the wall of the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow. Created by the city’s Cobolt Collective, it features Shuggie dancing in the street, together with a quote from his mother Agnes: “You’ll not remember the city, you were too wee, but there’s dancing. All kinds of dancing.”

Douglas’s second novel, Young Mungo, was published in April 2022 to critical acclaim. Set in 1990s Glasgow, it explores two teenage boys' quest for love and safety in a world of tension, violence and toxic masculinity. Douglas’s short stories have appeared in The New Yorker and he is currently working on his third novel. He will be in conversation with award-winning Northern poet, novelist and mentor Helen Mort. Helen’s latest books are The Illustrated Woman and A Line Above the Sky.

“There are Agnes Bains, Shuggies & Young Mungos – broken, closeted, bursting to break free – hidden in the fabric of Scotland still. Douglas Stuart’s work reminds us of their beauty, and the value of their existence.” The Face

Doors open at 6.30pm. Please note the cafe-bar in Central Library closes at 4pm.