Literature - Uncover Liverpool

BHM25: L8 Activism Walking Tour

The L8 Activism Walking Tour invites you to take a stroll down the beautiful, tree-lined Victorian boulevard and explore the rich history of Liverpool 8 — the traditional home of the Black community since the mid-20th century. This tour traces the area’s development from its origins as a merchant-class neighbourhood in the mid-to-late 19th century, when Liverpool was considered the second city of the British Empire — its prominence largely built on the Transatlantic Slave Trade — through a period of economic decline, and finally to its resurgence as one of the most desirable places to live in 2025.

As the tour progresses, we cover the vibrant nightlife and culture of the 1950s and 60s and the Black and anti-racist activism that developed throughout the 1970s and early 1980s and which responded to local and international issues. We consider the discrimination faced by Liverpool’s Black community, which Lord Gifford in his enquiry into the causes of the 1981 uprisings, described as ‘uniquely horrific’ which brought worldwide media attention to the area. At the Rialto which, during the uprisings, was set ablaze, we view the area where battle lines were drawn and consider why certain buildings were targeted.

The L8 Activism Walking Tour culminates on the former site of the Liverpool 8 Law Center, an organisation which arose out of the ‘81 Uprisings and which played a key role in the support and empowerment of L8 and the Black communities and then onto empty plinth where William Huskinson once stood. Join us to find out what happened to him and much more history that you won’t find in books.

Starting point: Princes Park North Gates, L8 3TA
End point: Former site of Huskinson statue, Princes Road, L8 1TH

*These are difficult times. We know some people may struggle to afford full price tickets. If you would like to attend this event but can’t afford to, please contact info@writingonthewall.org.uk. All queries will be treated in confidence.  

NICE! Stories and Rhymes with Michael Rosen

Poetry legend Michael Rosen celebrates his 80th birthday with a brand-new live show!

Michael looks back at a lifetime in poetry, performing beloved classics including Hot Food, No Breathing and Chocolate Cake, along with never-before-heard poems from his new collection Peas On Your Knees.

NICE! Is a show for all ages, from the young to the young at heart.

Spoken Word Poetry

Head along and enjoy poets and wordsmiths bringing their views and experiences to life, featuring Dionne Simpson, Sabiya and Janoma Omena. The experimental The Spoken Word Poetry Night has always been such a well-loved segment of the festival from audiences and artists alike.

BlackFest have shortlisted the talented and passionate artists to develop their work over a series of professionally facilitated workshops and rehearsals. The comedy veers from breaking intergenerational curses to dark and witty humour, covering themes of abuse, race, culture and identity.

The Poems of Poe

Head along and join Norton Priory for this evocative and immersive Halloween season performance with a difference.

The poems and works of literary legend and gothic American writer Edgar Allen Poe are brought to life by VML theatre in the atmospheric setting of the Norton Priory Undercroft.

The company will perform a selection of excerpts from Poe’s most well known and classic poems and stories such as The Pit and The Pendulum, The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart and Masque of the Red Death.

The performance starts at 7pm with an interval of 20 minutes. Refreshments will be available during this time.

The John McGahern Annual Book Prize

Join us for the sixth annual John McGahern Book Prize event, featuring readings from the winning debut, chosen by Colm Tóibín and announced in September. The shortlisted titles include Hagstone (Sinéad Gleeson), Glorious Exploits (Ferdia Lennon), Girl in the Making (Anna Fitzgerald), and The Coast Road (Alan Murrin). Established by the university’s Institute of Irish Studies, the £5,000 prize celebrates outstanding new Irish fiction.

At the time of releasing this information, the booking information is not yet know. We will update this page when it is known.

This event forms part of the Liverpool Literary Festival, running 17-19 Oct 2025. The event will be held in the Leggate Theatre at The Victoria Gallery and Museum (part of the University of Liverpool campus).

Image credit: Bobby Hanvey photographic Archive, courtesy of Digital Commonwealth.

Poetry Reading: Chris McCabe and Nine Arches Press

Sunday 7 September 2025 / 2 – 4 pm / Open Eye Gallery / free, RSVP
Chris McCabe reads live for the Liverpool launch of his new book Hedonism. He will be joined by publisher Jane Commane from Nine Arches Press, one of the UK’s leading independent poetry publishers. The event gives a chance to hear McCabe and Commane in conversation, exploring the creative process of editing and sharing insights into how a book is made.

Hedonism presents a carnival of characters including Bez from Happy Mondays, Jorge Louis Borges and a medieval pilgrim on a journey to buy a PlayStation, in McCabe’s sixth and most daring collection. Part-written in Scouse dialect and invented languages, Hedonism offsets the comic with the elegiac in a haunting and polyphonic work exploring the intersection of grief, place, memory and imagination.

About Chris McCabe:

Chris McCabe’s work spans artforms and genres including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and visual art. His work has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. His most recent poetry collection, The Triumph of Cancer is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and he is the editor of several anthologies including Poems from the Edge of Extinction: An Anthology of Poetry in Endangered Languages and The New Concrete: Visual Poetry in the 21st Century (with Victoria Bean). His novels are Dedalus and Mud. He is working on an epic series of psychogeographical prose books documenting the lost poets buried in London’s Victorian cemeteries, the latest of which is Buried Garden which was chosen as a White Review Book of the Year in 2022. His latest book is Dreamt by Ghosts published by Tenement Press.

Image: Chris McCabe

September Writing Advice Desk

The Windows Project

WRITING ADVICE DESK

WEDNESDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER at Liverpool Central LibraryWilliam Brown Street L3 8EW

Drop in between 5.30pm and 7.00pmfor one-to-one appraisal of scripts, stories, poemsand details of publishing opportunities, performance venues, workshops and courses

withALISON DOWN Screenwriter and poetBAFTA Rocliffe’s Emerging Children’s Writer.

DAVE WARDAuthor and poetEditor ‘Smoke’ magazineNominated for Carnegie Medal

Please book in on arrival. Each individual session usually lasts 20 minutes.

Reveal: book and documentary launch

A special preview to launch the Festival, tonight presents the exclusive first screening of our new documentary and the debut of our long-awaited book, Reveal. Three years in the making, this evening marks a milestone moment for Liverpool Irish Festival.

Documenting the 2024 Walk of the Bronze Shoes — a pilgrimage from Strokestown, Ireland to Liverpool, UK — and the creation of the Global Irish Famine Way, this book and film capture countless hours of research, endurance and dedication from our remarkable walkers and researchers.

Featuring research from the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail’s History Research Group, the project has received direct support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Consul General of the North on behalf of the Government of Ireland, the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee and generous donors who contributed through our JustGiving campaign.

Held in partnership with Boxpark, this evening highlights the Festival’s commitment to telling the story of An Gorta Mór, 180-years on. Join us for this unique opportunity to witness history being revealed.

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Literary Salon featuring Eimear McBride

Multi-award-winning novelist Eimear McBride chats to literary critic (and Irish literature fan) David Collard in an informal, friendly tête-à-tête.

Speaking to the Festival theme of ‘arrivals’, David Collard and Eimear McBride will discuss Eimear’s latest novel — The City Changes its Face — and her recent film debut (as a director) A Very Short Film About Longing (currently available on BBC iPlayer). Eimear (born in Liverpool to Irish parents) moved with her family to Ireland as a toddler. Her arrival on the literary scene was a long time coming – it took nine-years to find a publisher for her first novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. Subsequently she has been internationally lauded for her unique blend of experimentation and very contemporary female-centred storytelling.

The author of two additional novels The Lesser Bohemians and Strange Hotel, as well as the non-fiction work Something Out of Place: Women and Disgust, Eimear held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre (University of Reading), during which she wrote Mouthpieces; three short powerful plays on the female experience. Her debut directorial work A Very Short Film About Longing (DMC Films/BBC) screened at the 2023 London Film Festival. Eimear is the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Kerry Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

David Collard is the author of About a Girl (CB Editions) and Multiple Joyce and A Crumpled Swan (both published by Sagging Meniscus) and writes for the Times Literary Supplement. He curates and hosts the weekly online salon The Glue Factory.

Recorded exclusively for #LIF2025, this is the first of a series of Festival-linked Literary Salons we will run with David in the coming years.

Image credit: Kat Green (detail only).

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Ulysses: Shared reading

Often seen as dauntingly academic, James Joyce’s Ulysses is by contrast a book of life.

Published in 1922, Ulysses is one of the most revered of novels; “the book to which we are all indebted” according to TS Eliot. It is Joyce’s reconstruction of Dublin, through memory, which has become a national Irish epic. Set over the course of a single day — 16 June 1904 — the day of Joyce’s first date with Nora Barnacle, Ulysses is a tribute to his lifelong partner.

Structured to mirror the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey, the novel contains all of life, from the quotidian (daily) to the sublime. Catholicism, bar room song, toilet habits, philosophy, horse racing, infidelity, advertising slogans, gossip, sex and death all appear between its covers. Some said it was ‘not fit to read’. “If that is so”, said Joyce, “life’s not fit to live”.

Ulysses gives readers three major characters and — with its Modernist style — access to their inner worlds. In Stephen and Bloom Joyce gives us youth and experience, intellect and practicality in attempt to marry those opposites. And yes, Molly gives us the second most famous soliloquy in literature.

You are invited to read the novel, chapter by chapter, whether it be your first time or a re-reading. Led by Ulysses enthusiast Jim Stanton, readers will discuss each chapter as a group, in a comfortable setting. Together you will build a democratic understanding of a democratic novel, in the knowledge that the more you each put into your understanding, research and openness to the language, the more you’ll gain collectively. Though each may read in isolation, the group will gain from a collaborative reading of Joyce’s unsurpassable novel.

The group will meet monthly on the fourth Monday of the month, through until Oct 2026. New paperback copies of Ulysses can be bought on Amazon for £3.99.