Seán Hewitt 

This event is now Fully Booked and will take place in the Lecture Room on the Ground Floor of Manchester Art Gallery.

Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Art Gallery have co-commissioned poet Seán Hewitt to create new work in response to the Derek Jarman PROTEST! exhibition at the Gallery. Seán will perform his new poems for the first time, talk about the paintings and films that inspired him and discuss the impact that Derek Jarman has had on him and his work at this intimate event hosted by Greg Thorpe.

Seán Hewitt was born in Warrington in 1990. His debut poetry collection, Tongues of Fire, was awarded the 2021 Laurel Prize and was a Guardian, Spectator and Irish Times Book of the Year. Max Porter describes him as ‘an exquisitely calm and insightful lyric poet, reverential in nature and gorgeously wise in the field of human drama’ whilst Fiona Benson describes his poems as ‘beyond-gorgeous, beyond-glorious, blood-felt, feral, luminous.’ His forthcoming memoir, All Down Darkness Wide, is a fearless and tender exploration of love, heartbreak, queer identity, masculinity, mental health and coming-of-age. Seán lectures in English literature at Trinity College Dublin.

Derek Jarman PROTEST! runs until 10 April at Manchester Art Gallery and is a major retrospective of the work of one of the most influential figures in 20th century British culture. The exhibition focuses on the diverse strands of Derek’s practice as a painter, film maker, writer, set-designer, gardener and political activist. MLF and MAG would like to thank Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, Keith Collins Will Trust and Arts Council Collection.