Manchester Minds: A University History of Ideas has been written to mark the bicentenary of the University of Manchester: that is, of its earliest forerunners.

Its aim is to evoke themes in the University’s and the wider city’s history though 20 short essays on ideas and thinkers over two centuries. There are essays on big names such as Henry Roscoe and Lewis Namier, Alan Turing and Brian Cox – while others bring to life less well-known stories, such as the work of the suffragists Esther Roper and Eva Gore-Booth at the University Settlement in Ancoats. The theme throughout is the connection between ideas and the places where they were formed.

This is a chance to get a taste of the book, and to hear more about the many ways in which the University and the city have interacted in past and present.