Muslim Arts and Cultural Festival MACFEST - Manchester: One City, Many Voices

Date & time: 14 May 2026, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Venue
Performance Space, Manchester Central Library, St Peter's Square, Manchester, M2 5PD

Join the Manchester Lit&Phil and MACFEST for a vibrant evening celebrating the power of words to bridge cultures, spark understanding, and illuminate the rich tapestry of our city.

This event brings together a distinguished panel of poets, whose award-winning works span continents, traditions, and lived experiences.

Through live readings and personal reflections our guest writers will explore what diversity and inclusion truly mean in a city shaped by migration, creativity, and community. Their stories – rooted in memory, identity, struggle, joy, and hope – offer a compelling portrait of Manchester as a place where many cultures not only coexist, but flourish.

This unique event invites audiences to reflect on the ways literature can build empathy and connection, celebrating Manchester as an exemplar of multiculturalism at its best. Come prepared to be inspired, challenged, and uplifted by voices that reflect the city’s past, present, and ever-evolving future.

This is a free public event, designed to welcome audiences from all backgrounds and to highlight the unifying power of literature and the spoken word. There will be time for discussion and questions to the poets.

Poets and Writers (photos below listed in the following order):

  • Nasima Bee, performance poet, producer and creative practitioner
  • Nóra Blascsok, Hungarian poet based in Manchester, one of the Manchester Multilingual City Poets in 2025
  • Pamela Galloway, poet based in Canada and Manchester
  • Peter Kalu, poet, fiction writer and playwright
Cost
Free
Provider
MACFEST
Further details / booking

Find out more here 

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