Please join us on Saturday 14 May, 2.30-4.00 at the Whitworth Art Gallery for a wonderful line-up of poets and musicians. You will find all the information you need regarding visiting the Gallery on the Whitworth’s website here. The event is free and everyone is welcome. Read all about the poets and musicians below:

Hannah Lowe

Hannah Lowe is a poet, memoirist and academic. Her latest book, The Kids, a Poetry Book Society ‘Choice’ for Autumn, won the Costa Poetry Award and the Costa Book of the Year, 2021. Her first poetry collection Chick (Bloodaxe, 2013) won the Michael Murphy Memorial Award for Best First Collection. In September 2014, she was named as one of 20 Next Generation poets. Her family memoir Long Time, No See (Periscope, 2015) featured as Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Her second collection, Chan, is published by Bloodaxe. (2016). She teaches Creative Writing at Brunel University. @hannahlowepoet

Richard Scott

Richard Scott’s first book Soho (Faber & Faber, 2018) was a Gay’s the Word book of the year and shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot prize. Recent works include ‘Quartz’ published in the Poetry Review and ‘Amethyst’ in the anthology Queer Life, Queer Love (Muswell Press). Richard’s poetry has been translated into German and French. He is a lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London and he teaches poetry at the Faber Academy.

Sarah-Clare Conlon

Photo credit: Gwen Riley Jones

Sarah-Clare Conlon is an editor and copywriter based in Manchester, where she is Victoria Baths’ inaugural Writer-in-Residence. She studied French and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester, and had work in the Manchester Open. Shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and a Salt Prizes winner, her prose and poetry has appeared in anthologies from Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Dunlin Press and Speculative Books, and journals including Lighthouse, PN Review, Poetry Scotland and Stand. This year, Sarah-Clare has three books out: poetry pamphlets cache-cache with Contraband Books and Using Language with Invisible Hand Press, and prose pamphlet Marine Drive with Broken Sleep Books.

The Aaben Duo

The Aaben Duo are Nathan Holroyd on saxophone and Jess Hughes on harp. The saxophone and harp duo community is an exciting up-and-coming genre, which is internationally recognised, but also spearheaded by Manchester musicians. As part of the Aaben Duo, established in 2018, Nathan Holroyd and Jess Hughes have given several performances of new and traditional works, including many pieces which they arranged for the duo themselves. Notable performances include their showcase of Andy Scott’s contemporary Sonata at the RNCM in 2019; a concert of female composers for International Women’s Day at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in 2022; and a concert of popular French Classics (such as Debussy,Ravel and Fauré) arranged entirely by the two performers at RNCM in 2022.Saxophonist Nathan Holroyd is in his fourth year studying a Graduate Diploma in saxophone performance at the college under the tutelage of Rob Buckland, Carl Raven, Andy Scott, Iain Dixon and Dr Timothy McAllister. In the summer of 2021,whilst studying at RNCM, Nathan graduated from the University of Manchester with a First Class Undergraduate Degree in Music as part of the RNCM and University’s‘Joint Course’. Nathan’s central passion is new music, with a view to create new commissions and collaborations through ensembles he has founded such as Northern Reeds and the Aaben Duo.Harpist Jess Hughes is also in her fourth year of study on the Bachelor of Music with Honours course at RNCM, with Anne-Marie O’Farrell as her principal tutor.Throughout her undergraduate course, Jess has performed with many of the RNCM Orchestras and Ensembles, as well as with the RNCM Harp Ensemble (led by her former tutor Eira Lynn Jones) and her harp duo ‘Tegid Duo’. :She has also performed as a soloist in venues all over her home county of Somerset, including The Pump Rooms in Bath and Glastonbury Abbey. Jess’s main love is Romantic and 20th century French harp repertoire but has also recently discovered the infinite library of contemporary works, especially those by female composers. She hopes to continue to share her passion for the harp through performances of these wonderful, inspiring pieces.The Aaben Duo appear by kind permission of the RNCM.