Join poets Kit Fan and Andrew McMillan for an intimate in conversation on the importance of libraries in their work and art, hosted by Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Kit Fan is a poet, novelist and critic. His first book of poems, Paper Scissors Stone (2011), won the inaugural Hong Kong University International Poetry Prize. As Slow As Possible (2018) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and one of the Irish Times Books of the Year. He was shortlisted twice for the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize. He has won Northern Writers Awards for Fiction and Poetry, the Times Stephen Spender Poetry Translation Prize, and POETRY Editors’ Prize for Reviewing. His debut novel is Diamond Hill (2021). His third collection The Ink Cloud Reader is published by Carcanet in April 2023. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Andrew McMillan was born in Barnsley in 1988. His debut collection of poetry, physical, was ‘the sort of once-in-a-generation debut that causes everyone to sit up and take notice’ according to Sarah Crown. physical was the only poetry book to ever win the Guardian First Book Award; it was also awarded a Somerset Maugham award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and in 2019 was voted as one of the Top 25 Poetry Books of the Past 25 Years by the Booksellers Association. His second collection, playtime, won the inaugural Polari Prize. A third collection, pandemonium, was published in 2021 and in 2022 he co-edited the acclaimed anthology 100 Queer Poems, which was shortlisted in the British Book Awards. He is professor of contemporary writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Join these two wonderful artists for this conversation, as they discuss how libraries have inspired them throughout their lives, and why they feel strongly about access to libraries for everyone.

Visit Manchester Poetry Library during Manchester Festival of Libraries 2023. Manchester Poetry Library is Manchester’s newest library, and we are open to the public. Throughout the festival, we will be running 20 minute introductory tours of the library Wednesday to Saturday at 12.30pm. Family activity packs will be available, so please come and explore our children’s section. We stock an extensive collection of poetry journals and books in different languages. You are also welcome to explore our poetry on vinyl collection. So, if you’ve not visited us yet, why not come along during the Festival of Libraries 2023 to find out about membership, our programme and what’s on offer. We are open to all.