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centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Centre for Place Writing
@centreplacewriting.bsky.social
950 followers 320 following 530 posts
Creative-critical research centre, Manchester Metropolitan University. Exploring the relationship between writing & place to examine major contemporary issues.
Co-directed by Dr David Cooper & Dr Rachel Lichtenstein
https://linktr.ee/centreforplacewriting
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centreplacewriting.bsky.social
How wonderful was NIGHT VISION: In Search of True Darkness, Jean Sprackland's book launch last night! Congratulations to Jean!
If you missed it, a recording will be available on YouTube soon:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=efPv...
beginning of poetry reading from Night vision in the library with the lights off. All is visible are dark shapes and a glow through the window in the centre. Andrew McMillan, standing at a lecture, introduces Jean Sprackland and Karen Solie, both seated behind him looking up. Jean is standing and looking at the audience. Andrew, Jean and Karen are looking at one another in conversation.
November 21, 2025 at 10:05 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Helen Mort is in Canada this week for the Mountain Writers Residency & Banff book and film festival @banffcentre.bsky.social #mountains #writing (photos courtesy of @helenmort.bsky.social).
selfie of a white woman with long blonde hair, tattoos and piercings, wearing a green woolly hat with a snowy street behind her and forest in the distance. mountains beneath blue sky. Helen looking at the camera holding up her Banff file festival pass which reads 'Helen Mort. Mountain Writers Intensive'.
November 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to TREESCAPES project for coming joint first in the @manmetuni.bsky.social Festival of Research Awards for Research Collaboration!
Led by @katepahl.bsky.social & run by @drdavidcooper.bsky.social Caitlin Nunn & Khawla Badwan & with many more. #Collaborative #Research #Treescapes
Small group of people standing on a stage with light shining in through the window to the side, a backdrop behind them reading 'Festival of Research'.
October 22, 2025 at 1:04 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
This week @drdavidcooper.bsky.social is invited speaker at Università Roma Tre for the Envisioning Landscapes conference, presenting The Literary Geographies of the English Lake District: Reading, Mapping, Writing.

#AcademicSky #PlaceWriting
Muted colour painting of large trees with figures walking beneath and open landscape in the distance. White and green text reads 'Envisioning landscapes Convegno finale, 15 e 16 ottobre 2025.
October 16, 2025 at 10:36 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Continuing the Talking Trees project, led by Michael Pinchbeck, plaques have been installed for Talking Trees in Rushcliffe Country Park in Nottinghamshire over the summer.

More information can be found about the project here – they are now installing in Ningbo: talkingtrees.mmu.ac.uk
A tree surrounded by grass with a truck behind and metal plaque at its base. plaque at base of tree alongside a gravel path. plaque at the bottom of a tree with grass and fencing surrounding.
September 15, 2025 at 10:47 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
After a summer hiatus it was great to start the new academic year with some brilliant presentations from current PGRs @joeshute.bsky.social Domenic Suntrapak and @louisekenward.bsky.social - with thanks also to @supriyadhaliwal.bsky.social & Domenic for organising this fantastic pop-up event!
Castlefield viaduct - horizontal architecture and bridge structures with graffiti in the foreground in front of tower blocks.
September 15, 2025 at 6:02 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Today the Writing School's Summer Festival showcases 2 more members of the CPW.

@drjodiematthews.bsky.social draws on archival material & literature of #canals as sources of creativity.

While @sarahbutlerwriter.bsky.social is Finding & Sustaining Joy in Writing - Happy writing all!
Canal runs through the centre of the image, between tall brick buildings with small windows.
June 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Day 2 of the Writing School's Summer Festival started w @helenmort.bsky.social & a Creative Non-Fiction Writing Workshop - drawing on her recent book A Line Above The Sky - discussing the use of metaphor, barriers & blocks to writing & ways to overcome, writing into spaces of tension & vulnerability
Book cover of Line Above the Sky by Helen Mort - with an illustration of a mountain and small figure at the top.
June 17, 2025 at 10:45 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
2.30pm onwards - more details here: www.jargon.org.uk
sepia image of market stall with text in black.
May 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Calling PGRs

A reminder of the summer dates for the Writers' Retreats run by Chad McDonald. Please sign up for the next retreat on Monday 2nd June by next Tuesday 27th May.

The summer dates for the retreats are:
Monday 2 June
Wednesday 16 July
Thursday 21 August
#PhDLife
view to the sky between pale stone buildings, clear blue sky above.
May 22, 2025 at 3:12 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Conflict & Cohesion
History, Politics & Philosophy postgrad research conference

Wednesday 28th May 2025
14:00-17:00

Room 2.06, Grosvenor East building, Manchester Metropolitan University

In person only - no live stream.
Pre-recorded presentations will be available here: bit.ly/hpprcMMU
Pink poster with black text - detail in posts.
May 22, 2025 at 12:42 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Congratulations to Liam Bates, a PGR with the Centre for Place Writing - @liambatespoet.bsky.social who's poem 'Magic' has been shortlisted for this year's Poetry Wales Award!

[image courtesy of @poetrywales.bsky.social]
Orange border with black text inside of the poem, with image of Liam and bio below. Reads: A man at the front was yelling he knew how I did that after every trick. At what stage does a thought become an act? An attitude like that won't appear out of nowhere, how is a feeling like a fruit, when does a shoot become a plant, how does a baby grow ta-da from cosmic to a boy and how does that boy become a man who buys a ticket to my show just to heckle, I wondered, fumbling a bullet catch, losing another tooth.
May 16, 2025 at 9:24 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
FICTION WRITERS RESPOND TO AI

The Centre for Fiction research group - online panel discussion on the implications of AI for writers & readers of fiction.

Threat or opportunity? Can AI write our books, or is there something humans can do that AI never can?

Join them online on Thursday 22 May 5-6pm
City scape at sunset.
May 8, 2025 at 5:32 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Upcoming event from Rachel Lichtenstein.

Celebrate the launch of JARGON - a new non-profit cultural programming initiative dedicated to exploring past, present, & future ideas of Jewish diasporic life.

Tickets www.jargon.org.uk - Sunday 25th May, House of Annetta, 25 Princelet Street, London.
sepia coloured photograph of people in front of a market stall, text as in post.
May 8, 2025 at 9:34 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Conflict & Cohesion

History, Politics & Philosophy postgrad research conference

Wednesday 28th May 2025
14:00-17:00

Room 2.06, Grosvenor East building, Manchester Metropolitan University

In person only - Pre-recorded presentations will be available here: bit.ly/hpprcMMU

Refreshments inc.
May 7, 2025 at 11:22 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
This one-day symposium organised by The Scholars of the Stones at MMU gathers Arts and Humanities academics and/or artists working in relation to Neolithic or other ancient stone structures, focusing on the themes of materiality, mythology, affect and temporality...
May 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Call for papers & performances from @brihughespoet.bsky.social & Rebecca Drake - #Hydropoetry in Practice #seminar - deadline 23rd May - with @abipalmer.bsky.social & Suzannah V Evans as keynote speakers - supported by HARI.

Online & in-person attendance & participation
#AcademicSky #BlueHumanities
blue text on poster with watery white and grey background. Text in post/s.
May 3, 2025 at 10:50 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
A personal reckoning with grief, doubt, faith and poetry set to one of the most celebrated musical works of the twentieth century, from the award-winning poet and librettist.

Quartet for the End of Time is a moving, intimate and unforgettable book, attentive to ways of listening.

#PlaceWriting
April 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
More stunning postcards from @helenmort.bsky.social this week #Arctic #research #poetry #science #PlaceWriting

@dcahf-met.bsky.social @manmetuni.bsky.social
green building at the edge of a low lying rocky outcrop overlooking snow and ice below blue skies. Helen walking towards the camera in a dark thick padded coat from hood to shins and boots, with footprints in now and surrounded entirely by snow. display of postcards, alternately covered in writing and heavy text that reads 'landscapes of change'. Arctic view of snow and ice.
April 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Wishing Helen Mort @helenmort.bsky.social a wonderful time at the Arctic Station in Qeqqertarsuaq this week, & with thanks for letting us borrow some of her photos! If you saw the exhib at Mcr Poetry Library, Landscapes of Change last year...1/3
@dcahf-met.bsky.social @manmetuni.bsky.social
selfie pic of Helen Mort, a white woman with long blonde hair and a nose piercing, in a green hat, smiling into the camera, with a background of icebergs and frozen sea under a blue sky. a map of the Arctic with a card held in front that reads 'landscapes of change' in bold black lettering. a taxidermy bird positioned amongst letters and postcards on a desk. view of icebergs and Arctic, white wintry landscape.
April 25, 2025 at 7:14 PM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
This Saturday at Fab Cafe Manchester - 2-4pm - book launch for Sally Barrett's On The Advice Of Donna Or A Dream, with readings from PGR Lydia Unsworth @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social with Ruby Conner, Joey Frances and Sally Barrett.
poster with text as in post and a picture of book cover On the Advice of Donna or a Dream by Sally Barrett.
April 24, 2025 at 8:42 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Next week is the first of a new open mic session organised by English PGR Arlene Jackson @dcahf-met.bsky.social for PGRs to share their work in progress.
Tuesday 22nd April 1.30-2.30 online.
Caroline Stancer, @louisekenward.bsky.social Quen Took, Serena Slack-Robins & Devjani Bodepudi.
indigo poster with blue text and colourful masks and film props. Text reads as in post.
April 15, 2025 at 7:36 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
This month a new PGR event starts online: open mic.

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 - Online via Teams

You are warmly invited to join this accessible online Open Mic event where Caroline Stancer, Quen Took & Devjani Bodepudi, Serena Slack-Robins & @louisekenward.bsky.social will read work from their wip.
April 7, 2025 at 8:15 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
Mushaira (Poetry Readings)
Post-Eid Social, Kadac Chai, Sufi Music, more

Manchester Poetry Library
Tuesday 8th April
4.00pm - 6.00pm

Courtesy of:
Anjum Malik @anjummalik.bsky.social
South Asian Souport Group
MMU Writing School
Manchester Poetry Library
April 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
centreplacewriting.bsky.social
PGR network - next Monday is the last one of March & so 7pm is time for a cuppa and a catch up, chance to unload, share news, or just to say hi and meet with fellow Centre for Place Writing PGR folk. If you don't have the link drop me a message here/email.

Monday 31st March, 7pm on Teams.
cityscape beyond bare trees with tower blocks and cranes in the distance beneath a grey blue cloudy sky.
March 27, 2025 at 7:01 AM