REAL CONTENTMENT is a 9-month artist exchange programme that will be the start of a lasting partnership between Manchester and Nanjing, both UNESCO Cities of Literature and UNESCO Cities of Lifelong Learning. Collaborations between six artists – poets, illustrators and playwrights – will create new multilingual work to be published and exhibited in both cities in 2025, including at the Festival of Libraries in Manchester in June 2025. All creative collaborations plus a parallel school-engagement programme respond to the ecological themes of the poetry of award-winning poet and essayist Han Dong.

Manchester City of Literature are now recruiting for a Manchester-based playwright to be paired with a Nanjing playwright to create a new play. There is a fixed fee of £3,000 for this work which includes a paid trip to Nanjing in March 2025 and participation in Manchester in June 2025 at the Festival of Libraries with script-in-hand readings of the play, as well as the possibility for inclusion in the programme’s anthology and discussion for production.

Key dates:

• Closing date for applications: Sunday 5th January 2025.
• Notification of shortlisted applicants by: Thursday 9th January 2025
• Interviews: Monday – Tuesday, 13 – 14th January 2025