To celebrate the Aryamati Poetry Prize 2021, Manchester Poetry Library was delighted to speak to the previous winners of the prize, Jenny Mitchell and Pippa Little.

Aryamati Poetry Prize 2021: Interview with Jenny Mitchell and Pippa Little.MP3

Interview with Sundra Lawrence, who won the Aryamati Poetry Prize 2022 for her collection 'Warriors'. Now in its fourth year, the Aryamati Prize seeks poets who write for social change and peace. Past winners have included Pippa Little and Jenny Mitchell. Since 2021, the prize has published the winner’s work also in pamphlet form, with ‘Warriors’ by Sundra Lawrence spanning a thirty-year history, against the shadow of the Sri Lankan civil war, told from the voices of first and second-generation British Tamils.

Aryamati Poetry Prize 2022: Interview with Sundra Lawrence

Poetry and pictures in greetings cards: an interview with Zaffar Kunial

Photo credit: ‘The Shell Seekers’ by Su Blackwell, 2015. Photography by Yeshen Venema

Let the artists in! is a project from First Draft, which commissions brand new work inspired by collections in museums and libraries across the north of England. Let the artists in! is generously supported by Arts Council England and The Writing Squad.

As part of Let the artists in!, Manchester Writing School and the Manchester Poetry Library developed a programme for three poets who have never been a poet-in-residence before. We received an overwhelming number of applicants. The three fantastic poets to be chosen (Lydia Hounat, Merrie Joy Williams, Roma Havers) completed a short residency at Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections. This include a fee of £500, a day's training and the opportunity to explore and respond to materials from Special Collections.  

To celebrate the residency we have curated a three-part digital exhibition, in which each resident responds to their residency in different ways (essays, interviews and photography). In November 2019, a special zine about the residency will we accepted into Special Collections holdings. 

Here Roma Havers talks to Martin Kratz about her experience a poet in residence with Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Let the Artist's in! Roma Havers interview

In July 2020, Manchester Poetry Library was honoured to host the Manchester stop on the launch tour of Aulò, Aulò, Aulò! by Ribka Sibhatu, translated by André Naffis-Sahely (Poetry Translation Centre, 2020). Here is a short extract from that event, in which Ribka explains what an Aulò is.