Cities Untold

Cities Untold was a two-year collaboration project delivered by Manchester Literature Festival, Young Identity and Danish literature festivals LiteratureXchange (Aarhus) and Ordkraft (Aalborg)

As part of the project, talented young writers, Billie Meredith, SAF-S2E, Cassandra Marie Geyti, Silas Toft, Marie Laurberg Nielsen and Selina Rom Andersen were commissioned to create new work inspired by joint residencies in each other’s cities culminating in the Cities Untold anthology. You can read the anthology here.

The poets took part in celebratory events to launch the Cities Untold anthology at each of the three festivals. You can watch a highlights video of the final event filmed during Manchester Literature Festival at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on 17 October 2023 below. The video features poets Billie Meredith, SAF-S2E, Cassandra Marie Geyti, Silas Toft & Marie Laurberg Nielsen talking about their experience of the project and performing some of their poetry with musical accompaniment from guitarist Rory A. Green and harpist Ada Grace Francis.

The project was co-ordinated by Cathy Bolton, Shirley May (Manchester), Vita Andersen, Jørgen Dissing Nørgaard (Aalborg), Jette Sunesen and Lise Kloster Gram (Aarhus), and produced by Nicole May.

This project was generously supported by Manchester City Council, Arts Council England, Kulturministeriet – The Agency for Culture and Palaces, Statens Kunstfond – The Danish Arts Foundation, Aarhus Municipality and Aalborg Municipality.