Join the much-loved Julie Hesmondhalgh for an evening of conversation with Nasima Bee on the importance and vitality of libraries.

“As a long-time fan of the Manchester City of Literature, I’m thrilled to be part of their celebration of libraries this year. I was fortunate enough to grow up with the magnificent Accrington Library, which famously changed Jeanette Winterson’s life, practically on my doorstep, as well as the tiny, less grand- but equally magical- Church Library even closer to home.  I have such fond memories of choosing weekly books from the dedicated children’s section of both, and I know that I owe so much of my lifelong love of reading to those Halls of Knowledge.” – Julie Hesmondhalgh

Actor Julie Hesmondhalgh is best known for her role as Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, playing the first transgender character in a British serial. For this role, she won Best Serial Drama Performance at the 2014 National Television Awards and Best Actress at the 2014 British Soap Awards.

Post Corrie, Julie has been prolific, with other regular television roles including Cucumber (2015), Happy Valley (2016), Broadchurch (2017), Dr Who (2019) and The A Word (2020). Her stage credits include God Bless the Child at the Royal Court Theatre in London (2014), and Wit at our very own Royal Exchange, Manchester (2016).

Julie was born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1970 and studied drama aged 18 at London Academy of Music and Art. In 1991 Julie became part of Arts Threshold, a small independent theatre in London, before making her TV debut is a series of TV dramas in the 1990s.

About our host

Nasima Begum (aka Nasima Bee on stage) is a performance poet, producer and creative practitioner. She’s a trustee for Manchester’s Young Identity (http://www.youngidentity.org), an advocate for Contact Theatre, and is the Youth Coordinator at Ananna. Nasima’s most notable performances include Manchester Literature Festival, British Council’s BritLitBerlin conference and BBC’s Contains Strong Language. Nasima’s most recent residency was Belgium’s Museum Nacht, where she spent 24 hours with 14 artists making performance work. She has taught poetry with young people nationally and internationally through various projects. Nasima was 1 of 5 Greater Manchester recipients of the Jerwood Creative Fellowship with Manchester International Festival in which she observed ANU Productions ‘The Anvil’ and was also commissioned to write and record poetry for an installation piece as part of this.

Refreshments will be provided at this event, courtesy of Tameside Libraries.