The Schools Writing Trail was a Manchester City of Literature exhibition that took place during Festival of Libraries 2023. The trail featured some of the very best student writing in Manchester. There were over 100 young writers featured, writing in 12 languages, whose poetry, fiction, and imagination all featured in the exhibition. The Trail was a walkable constellation of young voices connecting community arts centres, schools, universities, and libraries with over 40 schools in Greater Manchester. The Schools Writing Trail project is a celebration of the young writers who are a vibrant part of what makes Manchester a UNESCO City of Literature.

There were 6 locations in the city centre where audiences could read work that was generated from 8 Manchester-based initiatives: First Story’s Connect Event, Z-Arts Story Stars, The Portico Library’s annual Sadie Massey and Art of the Book awards, the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester’s annual Schools Writing Competition, Manchester Metropolitan University’s annual Mother Tongue, Other Tongue competition, Saturday Club and, in conjunction with the Comino Foundation, Comino Poet in Residence program. You can find out more about each one of these Manchester City of Literature partners below.

We were thrilled to be highly commended in the University of Manchester Making a Difference Awards for ‘Outstanding contribution to widening participation’ last month, alongside another project we are part of The RoundView who won in the ‘Outstanding public engagement initiative category’.

This project culminated in a literature trail that exhibited young people’s writing, through various writing initiatives and collaboration with 45 Greater Manchester schools. The project aimed to work specifically with primary and secondary schools, many serving low-income communities, over an academic year. One of the key aims was to educate and inspire young people, instil confidence and self-belief, and offer the opportunity to work with professional writers, and above all, to empower them to use creative writing as a tool to express themselves.