ISSUE 21
THE PROJECTS
THE CLIMATE & ME
We were in a meeting discussing how the Writing Squad responded to the climate crisis, wondering where to spend the offset on our meagre carbon footprint. Squad grad Lauren Vevers suggested that rather than donate to some opaque scheme, why don’t we commission Squad writers to respond creatively instead. So that’s what we did. We offered two commissions of £1000 (more than our offset!) and chose two proposals that were as much about writers experimenting as responding, Billie with Twine and alternative narratives, Louise embroidering the graphic novel.
REWRITE
ReWrite brought together Squad Writers and their contemporaries from Denmark for a creative journey across borders in a collaboration between Ordkraft,LiteratureXchange, Manchester Literature Festival and The Writing Squad.
ReWrite connected writers from the three cities: Aalborg, Aarhus, and Manchester. Each city hosted a four-day workshop with writers and translators, leading to sharing at each literature festival.
In Aalborg we had writing workshops with Anne Marie Bochert and workshops leading to a performance with Adam Drewes. In Aarhus we explored multilingualism in poetry with Hazel Evans, power and counter speech on stage with Elias Sadaq and reclaiming myths and language with Shëkufe Heiberg.
In Manchester the writers wrote on the city with Keisha Thompson, made the city in a Lego Serious Play workshop with Squad grad Beth Davies, walked the city with grad and board member James Varney, and wrote the in city with a contemplative workshop with our Core Team member Malika Booker.
Elizabeth Gibson and Tallulah Howarth represented the Squad from Manchester, working with Johanne Bisgaard from Aalborg and Asta Birkler and Loc-An The Nguyen from Aarhus.
Big thanks to the host writers accompanying the groups Louise Juhl Dalsgaard and Steve Dearden and to those without whom this wouldn’t have happened Vita Andersen from Ordkraft, Jette Sunesen of Literature Xchange and Cathy Bolton from Manchester Literature Festival.
I’VE NEVER READ ELIZABETH GASKELL
This was one of those lovely projects when a host comes to you with the idea and the funding and wants exciting writers to work with. We put a call out and Sally the Director of Elizabeth Gaskell House, along with two young house volunteers, chose three writers to be ‘resident’ and respond to the writer’s house in south Manchester.
Georgia Affonso, Guruleen Kahlo and Princess Arinola Adegbite spent time exploring the collection as well as talking to visitors and volunteers. The resulting work – that you read and listen to here – was displayed in the house, in Manchester Central Library as part of the 2025 Manchester City of Literature Festival of Libraries and has/is touring libraries in Didsbury, Sale, Bolton (May 2026) Rochdale (June) and Withington (July/August).
Huge thanks to Sally Jastrzebski-Lloyd, Director of Elizabeth Gaskell House and all the volunteers who made us so welcome. Also Ivan Wadeson and Manchester City of Literature for their consistent, unassuming match-making, and the Heritage Lottery Fund for financial support.
