Burgess Events for May 2024
Find out what's happening at the Burgess Foundation and beyond in May 2024
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Unboxing Anthony Burgess | 22 June 2024, 1pm, Free
Your final chance to explore the life and work of Anthony Burgess in this special gathering at the author’s archive in Manchester. Burgess was a prolific novelist, composer, journalist and playwright. He grew up above a pub in Manchester, then travelled the world as a solider and teacher before publishing his first novel at the age of 39.
The archive at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation tells the story of a writer who never stopped working, despite illness and controversy. As he writes in his autobiography, Little Wilson and Big God: ‘Wedged as we are between two eternities of idleness, there is no excuse for being idle now.’
The Foundation holds manuscripts, photographs, typewriters, vinyl records, notebooks, wine bottles, pianos, a clay bust of his head, and a seemingly endless collection of literary and artistic paraphernalia. Come and be surprised.
This is the final event in our current Unboxing Anthony Burgess series.
📦 This event on Saturday 22 June 2024 falls in the same week as Bloomsday, and will celebrate the works of Anthony Burgess’s artistic hero, James Joyce, through objects and manuscripts in the Burgess Archive.
This event will start at 1:00 pm. Tickets are free, but numbers for each event are limited, to allow close-up access to the artefacts. Therefore booking is essential.
Events at the Burgess Foundation in Manchester
Literature: With Love, Grief & Fury with Salena Godden & Friends | 7 May 2024, 7pm, £5 | Salena Godden introduces her new poetry collection, with support from Christine Roseeta Walker and Rebecca Hurst (more information).
Literature: Harpy – A Manifesto for Childfree Women by Caroline Magennis | 9 May 2024, 6pm, free | Writer and academic Caroline Magennis in discussion with Claire Lynch about her thoughtful new book investigating the often-divisive conversation about women who choose to be childfree (more information).
Concert: Northerly Winds with Tamsin Holding | 10 May 2024, 7pm, £10 | Spellbinding renditions of Poulenc’s mesmerising wind sextet and Gordon Jacob’s dynamic piano sextet (more information).
Seminar: Wagner Society – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg | 11 May 2024, 10am, £27.50 | Spend the day studying Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Wagner Society president Derek Blyth (more information).
Comedy: XS Malarky | 14 May 2024, 7:30pm, £6 | Manchester’s iconic comedy night returns to the Burgess Foundation, with Ciaran Mullins, Matthew Williams, and more acts to be announced (more information).
Talk: The Sex Lectures | 15 May 2024, 7pm, £15.50 | A packed evening of sex-positive lectures hosted by Alison Pilling and John Siddique (more information).
Workshop: Thanda’s Big Sing | 18 May 2024, 10am, free | Award winning vocalist Thanda Gumede will teach you two songs of traditional Zulu music blended with African Gospel. A Manchester Jazz Festival workshop (more information).
Concert: Harp Alchemy | 19 May 2024, 6.30pm, £14 | Trailblazing harpists Amy Turk and Lauren Scott launch their new albums with solo and duo performances inspired by classical, rock, jazz and film music (more information).
Talks: The Textile Institute | 22 May 2024, 9am, £30 | The Manchester and the North West Section of the Textile Institute presents Textiles and Life 4, a one-day conference presented by students for students (more information).
Screening: To Be Continued 尚未完場 | 25 May 2024, 6pm, £12 | A documentary about the life of Harry Odell, a former stockbroker who reinvented himself to bring world-class musicians like Isaac Stern and Xavier Cugat to perform in Hong Kong (more information).
The Burgess Foundation Online
For those who can’t make it to Manchester, we have plenty of other cultural activities, accessible in the virtual space.
The Ninety-Nine Novels Podcast | The podcast celebrating Anthony Burgess’s favourite novels of the twentieth century is now in its third series, with episodes on writers such as Evelyn Waugh, Alasdair Gray, Christopher Isherwood and Ralph Ellison. Available wherever you prefer to get podcasts (more information).
The Burgess Foundation Podcast | This podcast illuminates Anthony Burgess’s life and work, with episodes examining his fiction and non-fiction, his work in the film industry, his music, and his experiences traveling the world (more information).
Object of the Week | An ongoing exploration of the archives at the Burgess Foundation. Learn the secrets of the weird and wonderful world of Anthony Burgess through his possessions, his extensive library and some other hidden treats (more information).