Events

Join British Academy Global Professor and friend of the Gothic Centre, Maisha Wester to celebrate the launch of Coded Black, the social Justice game for the PC.

Join members of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies for the third of our Spring/Summer Contemporary Gothic Reading Groups for 2025. This in-person reading group takes place during our Gothic Crossroads conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. These free sessions, which we run in the summer months, give us a chance to explore the prominent role […]

Join members of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies for the final discussion of our Spring/Summer Contemporary Reading Groups for 2025. This is the last of a series of 4 reading groups (this year there are two in person and two online). These free sessions, which we run in the summer months, give us a […]

Susan Barker, author of Old Soul, and member of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies will be in conversation Elaine Castillo and discussing her novel, MODERATION. Blackwell's Bookshop, Manchester Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. About the author: Elaine Castillo, named one of “30 of the […]

Join Manchester Gothic Centre's Co-Director, Emma Liggins, in London or live streamed online on Tuesday August 19th as she gives a Seed Talk on the topic of Gothic Fiction and the Female Writer. What do Gothic novels and the supernatural have to do with feminism? A surprising amount. Back in the 18th century, Gothic novels […]

WRITING THE GOTHICThis writing course offers six two-hour workshops from March to September, learning the craft of gothic fiction from author and Gothic PhD candidate Bronte Schiltz. Participants on this course will create up to three short stories (up to 5k words) over the duration of this course. Your best story will be published in a […]

GOTHIC ANGELS OF DEATHMourning, Memory and the Feminine Gothic in the CemeteryWith Emma Liggins on Thursday the 16th October 2025 at 7 pm How were women remembered in Victorian cemeteries? Were they always cast as ‘beloved wives’ or ‘devoted daughters’ beneath grand, angel-topped headstones — or do we find more nuanced tributes etched in stone?This […]

“It's alive,” manically proclaims the mad scientist in James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), the source material which not only nuanced the Gothic but also gave birth to science fiction. And across the plentiful variations and imitations of this classic text and its themes, of course, body horror has given rise to affect our most primal fears and social […]

A chilling evening of ghost stories and haunted pasts with internationally acclaimed Korean author Bora Chung (Cursed Bunny) and British novelist Susan Barker (The Incarnations), as they discuss their gripping new novels, The Midnight Timetable and Old Soul. Both tales explore the uncanny ways the past refuses to stay buried and the mysterious forces that connect us across […]

£3. Book here. Join award-winning novelists Essie Fox and Kate Griffin to find out more about the process of writing historical fiction and how to create a Gothic atmosphere. They will be talking about their recent novels, Essie Fox’s Dangerous (2024) and Kate Griffin’s Fyneshade (2023). Hosted by Sarah Dutson, from the Manchester Centre for […]

We are thrilled to welcome Leon Craig and Andrew Michael Hurley to the shop to discuss their latest novels, THE DECADENCE and SALTWASH. Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy of either book. About The Decadence: At the height of lockdown, a group of flailing twenty-something friends makes […]

This spine-chilling Halloween event brings together ghost story expert Dr Emma Liggins with theatrical performer and writer Adam Z. Robinson. It promises spooky stories, haunted histories and the terror of the unknown. The evening begins with an illustrated talk on the development of the ghost story in the nineteenth century. The popularity of Gothic fiction […]