Empathy Day Festival – jump into someone else’s story!
“Empathy is something we need every day, not just when a friend or family member is sad.” (Manchester school pupil) From the 2nd – 12th June, Manchester Libraries will be…
Category Community and social
Access All Ages at The Bridgewater Hall
Manchester Libraries recently took part in a big event at The Bridgewater Hall. The event ‘Access All Ages’ was put on by Intergenerational Music Making (IMM) alongside Intergenerational England. As…
Refugee Week at Manchester Libraries
Between 16th to 22nd June 2025, Manchester Libraries will be hosting a range of activities as part of Refugee Week. The theme for Refugee Week this year is ‘Community as…
FESTIVAL OF LIBRARIES LOOK FOR A BOOK, 27-30 May
Manchester Libraries and Read Manchester are thrilled to be part of the Festival of Libraries Look for A Book activity again this year! Five hundred copies of Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock’s…
Library of the Month: Hulme High Street Library
It’s exciting to be the library of the month for April. Hulme High Street Library, was the first “branch library” of Manchester’s free library, which was the country’s first free…
Festival of Libraries June 2025
Returning for its fifth year, and winner of Best Event at the Manchester Culture Awards in 2024, Festival of Libraries is the biggest festival of its type in the country,…
Libraries & Nature, a Creative, Historical & Mindful Partnership!
Libraries have taken themselves out into some of Manchester’s beautiful green spaces recently. 3 libraries paired up with a park and it’s Park Ranger to plan and deliver a walk…
See Myself in Books Festival
Read Manchester’s inaugural See Myself in Books Festival to promote representation in children’s books took place this March. Devised to complement our…
Children, young people and schools, and Read Manchester
On 4th March 2025, Councillor John Hacking Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure and Neil MacInnes Head of Libraries, Galleries and Culture, took a report on Manchester Libraries to…
Join the Consultation: Young People’s Views Wanted for Manchester Libraries.
Can you help us shape the way libraries deliver services for young people in Manchester? We are looking for the views of young people in Manchester this spring term. Young…
Reading Makes Us Free
Reading Makes Us Free is a mass-participation artwork celebrating the power and freedom reading gives to us. Inspired by the Frederick Douglass quote ‘Once you learn to read, you will…
Wonderful Winter Warmer!
On 26 February, Central Library opened its doors to 950 visitors for a special Sunday Funday, funded by Manchester Central Library Development Trust, the charity that supports cultural and educational…
‘Henry Normal in conversation’ live streams now on YouTube!
Join poet, writer, TV & film producer Henry Normal as he chats and shares poetry with fellow Flapjack Press wordsmiths. With audience Q&A. Catch up with our second series of…
Word Central – Now We Are Six! Birthday Special!
Word Central Open Mic Night hosted by Tony Curry Join Flapjack Press at Manchester Central Library on Tues 26th July for their Birthday Special event! An evening of celebrations and…
Outdoor Activities in April
As we start to move fully into spring and the weather improves why not check out one of Manchester’s many local parks, or go on one of the wonderful outdoor…
A few ideas for things to do this Christmas
If you are looking to do something a little different this Christmas period we have put together a few suggestions for you. Lightopia has returned to Heaton Park and is open…
Brand new 10-week creative challenge for young people in Manchester
Next week sees the launch of a brand new creative project devised by Manchester Libraries for young people to get involved in from their own homes. Whilst their doors might be…
Send Joy
‘Send Joy’ is a project that was launched by Creative City on 6th April inviting everyone to create a work of art to be sent to Manchester’s older residents. Creative…
Cllr Rahman’s library e-bulletin for July
Manchester’s Love Parks Week got off to a great start in July, with staff from Avenue Library creating natural crafts for children and families from Blackley and Charlestown – part…
Empathy Day
Empathy Day focuses on using books as tools to build more understanding between us all, because scientific research shows that reading builds our real-life sensitivity towards other people. Reading empathy-boosting…