Following the fantastic success of last year’s Christmas dinner, The Portico brings you another delicious feast set in the sumptuous library surroundings. This event is popular and seating is limited so don’t delay in booking!

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Manchester: Mapping the City is new book looking at the history of Manchester using a rich array of more than 100 street maps, land surveys, engineering plans and promotional birds-eye views. It features original maps from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century, drawing on local archives and libraries. It also illustrates and discusses the significant events and places that have featured in Manchester’s history, such as Peterloo, the Ship Canal, Town Hall, Belle Vue, Victoria Station and the football grounds.

The authors will deliver a talk on the subject and discuss new ways to access historic cartography. There will be a chance to look at sample of our book and view poster reproductions of some of best historic maps of Manchester. The Portico Library will also display some of its own relevant maps and plans from the archive.

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The political and social struggles that surrounded the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 and were nothing new. Those holding power sought to keep it, use it and would, on occasion, abuse it. Their opponents demanded a say in government, in the way their lives were organised, and how they might improve their lot in life by political action.

Peterloo was one tragic episode in that eternal struggle: reflecting a world of political hopes and ideas and it would, consciously or not, shape the political thoughts of generations to come.

Some of these ideas are the themes of a series of talks on politics and power.

The format is a 1 hour lecture followed by tea, cake and casual discussion.

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In the second half of the 19th century a group of educated, passionate, complex and multi-faced English women played a leading role in developing the study of Ancient Egypt. These women supported, participated in, and led the excavations and academic research that were bringing the ancient world to life. Many were enabled by the industrial wealth of the North West, which is why the our museums have more Ancient Egyptian artefacts than anywhere else in the United Kingdom outside London.

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Nov 9, 2018, 3:00pm - 5:00pm

The Portico Library and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority welcome you to an event looking at nature, resilience and young people, and how culture can be used to address some of the most pressing problems we face as a city-region.

This event will be a chance for members of the public to engage with academics, practitioners, policy makers and cultural representatives on issues of resilience, ecology and the role of the arts in a changing climate and will be opened by the Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, and the Greater Manchester Chief Resilience Officer, Dr Kathy Oldham.

In addition, two local school groups will present the outcomes of workshops conducted with local artist Oliver East using the power of image and text to explore themes of nature, urban life, and resilience…

Join the waiting list for free tickets here.

First Draft have commissioned a line up of talented artists to create new performances inspired by the library's mysterious collection of books on the occult. Throughout the evening, they'll take you into a world of witches and necromancers, demons and magicians, and ghostly apparitions bringing warnings from beyond the grave.

Don't miss this special Halloween evening of cabaret at the atmospheric Portico Library - one of Manchester's most beautiful hidden gems.

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RECLAIM was set up in Moss Side in 2007, to identify and support young leaders from an intensely pressurised community. It continues its work to help young working class people to develop their skills and potential, and to build their pathway to make the world a better place for all. In this informal event some of RECLAIM’s proud and passionate young working class feminists will talk about their journey into social action.

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Anne Hornsby of Mind's Eye Description Services will deliver an audio-described tour for blind and partially sighted visitors. She will introduce The Portico Library’s building and collection, and describe the present exhibition Spirited.

Spirited tells the stories of some of the young women and girls who fought for the vote 100 years ago, centring on Manchester as the birthplace of the suffrage movement. It brings to life their incredible acts of courage, creativity and cunning in order to inspire today’s young people into taking their own first steps into social action.

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After the granting of the vote to women in 1918, the struggle for women's rights intensified with a nationwide campaign for the right to birth control. This campaign was met with a great deal of hostility; it threatened to overturn Victorian ideas about female sexuality, female empowerment and the traditional roles within the family. The most well known of the campaigners, scientist and early feminist Marie Stopes, opened clinics across England which fitted 'contraception caps' to women for free. The first history of this grassroots social movement after the Suffragettes offers a window into the social and cultural history of the period, and features new archival material in the forms of memoirs, personal papers and press cuttings. This is an essential contribution to the influential field of women's history and a vital addition to the history of feminism. The lecture focuses on 'Marie Stopes, Reluctant Mancunion , Sexual Revolutionary and Birth Control Pioneer ' as it is the 100th anniversary of the publication of her ground breaking 'Married Love' which was a best-seller. 'Marie Stopes was voted in the top ten of this month's BBC History readers' poll of 'Women Who Changed the World'.

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This double bill explores the work of psychotherapy practitioner Molly Harrower, who pioneered the use of inkblot tests in Gestalt psychology. There will be readings from Molly’s autobiography, and you can print your own inkblot and learn what an inkblot test looks like.

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Bryony Dixon has researched and written on many aspects of early and silent film, and co-directs the annual British Silent Film Festival, as well as programming for a variety of film festivals and events worldwide. Now the BFI’s silent film curator, Bryony oversees its archive of suffragette films, and will discuss how the battle for women’s suffrage in the early years of the 20th century was captured – and carried out – on film.

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Helen Pankhurst is an international development and women's rights activist and writer. Pankhurst is currently CARE International's senior advisor working in the UK and Ethiopia. Pankhurst is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, who were both leaders in the British suffragette movement. Helen will be reading from her latest book Deeds Not Words, which will be followed by a Q&A.

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*SheSays Manchester is a wholly inclusive event with a difference – an open space for discussion where women take the lead. *SheSays Manchester also matches mentors and mentees, creating opportunities for women to lead and inspire other women. Vimla Appadoo will talk about *SheSays Manchester and take questions from the audience at the end.

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In her excellent new novel, Wendy Louise Bardsley takes the reader on a journey from Yorkshire to London, Wales, and Paris, as she explores the remarkable life of Mary Wollstonecroft. As a young woman, Mary copes with a bullying father, a subjugated mother, sees young friends die in childbirth and from tuberculosis. And whilst her elder brother Ned follows an unfettered path to a career as a lawyer, Mary is deprived of a formal education. All of these experiences combine to shape Mary’s ideals for the improvement of the lot of women, a subject she pursues passionately throughout her adult life. 

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Nimco Ali is a British Somali feminist, writer and social activist. She is co-founder and director of Daughters of Eve, a survivor-led organisation which has helped to transform the approach to ending female genital mutilation (FGM). Nimco will be talking about her current work to ensure Somaliland, where 98% of women and girls are affected, enacts legislation to ban FGM.

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Quartier Perdu is the anticipated new collection from multi-award winning short story writer, poet, playwright and journalist, Sean O'Brien.

O’Brien is perhaps Britain’s most decorated living poet, being the only poet to have won the Forward and TS Elliot prizes three times. New collection brings together stories inspired by terror, science and the supernatural, lit with the hue of the Victorian gothic. Some stories written in direct response to the famous Literature and Philosophy Library in Newcastle, where O’Brien lives and is the Professor of Creative Writing at the university.

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The Portico Library was established in 1806 and remains in its original purpose-built venue in the heart of Manchester City Centre, still fulfilling its original function and welcoming visitors six days a week for exhibitions, dining and events. Its collection was compiled throughout the colonial period and reflects the complex relationships that developed between Asia and Britain throughout the 19th century. Join Asia Triennial Manchester 2018 artist and former Portico exhibitor Saima Rasheed to learn about the library’s history, collection and current exhibition ENTWINED: Knowledge & power in the age of Captain Cook.

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Dancer, artist and curator Risa Takita has developed a new interactive performance through research into the history of Manchester at The Portico Library. Specially commissioned for Asia Triennial Manchester 2018, Risa’s new work raises questions about the meaning of identity, history and culture and draws inspiration and insight from the library’s connections with the wider world over the last three centuries.

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