Saturday 29 October 2011

Manchester Blog Awards 2011



I might not stop reading for two hours,” says Manchester writer Socrates Adams, “so apologies if people start weeping.”

It's Wednesday, 19th October. We're in the trendy and iconic Deaf Institute on Oxford Road for the 6th annual Manchester Blog Awards and I'm sinking some disturbingly expensive Dalwhinnie and Balveninie single malts from the impressive back bar. On stage, Socrates is reading from his newly-published novel, Everything is Fine. What isn't so fine, he tells us, is that the publishers have printed the book's jacket in the wrong colour.

The segment read features a failing salesman whose boss orders him to carry his test-tube merchandise (named “Mildred”) on his person at all times. From the witty excerpt Socrates reads out, I expect it will do well upon its January release.

Tonight we'll also hear some equally impressive readings from more of Manchester's writing community- successive doses of short, sharp fiction and some vivid and emotionally-charged non-fiction pieces. Many people will laugh. Some will cry. At least one woman and at least one man will get massively drunk.

Tom Mason, curator of Manchester blog 330 Words, Is official event blogger and his fine write-up appears on the Manchester Literature Festival blog.

It is a truly entertaining night. The Manchester Blog Awards website features a full list of the night's winners, with links to their blogs. Check them out. They're well worth a read.

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