THE NORTHERN WEIRD PROJECT: A Wild Hunt Books Showcase

Join us for a night of northern fiction with Wild Hunt Books! Celebrate the Northern Weird Project series with readings and discussion from authors Gemma Fairclough, Neil McRobert and Matt Wesolowski. The panel discussion will be hosted by Ariell Cacciola, editorial director of Wild Hunt Books.

Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm

Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy of one (or all!) of the books.

About THE RETREAT:

Richard’s sister Julie returns home from a mysterious wellness facility in remote Cumbria in 1994. He’s convinced that this place was a cult and was the cause of his sister’s eventual suicide. Finally, after years as an unaccomplished academic, he decides to investigate the disturbing accusations against the Hartman Retreat Centre. He meets Lucy, a young woman whose story is eerily similar to his sister’s decades before. Richard is determined to unearth what’s really been happening at the Hartman Retreat Centre but more importantly, who is Charles Hartman, the celebrated healer who casts a powerful hold over all who come to the retreat.

About GOOD BOY:

After a boy vanishes on the outskirts of a small town, a woman spies a mysterious man digging a grave in the exact spot of the disappearance. However, when she confronts him, the man's true purpose is far more chilling than she could have imagined.

About (DON'T) CALL MUM:

Leo is just trying to catch his train back home to the village of Malacstone in North East England. But there’s disorder at the station, and when a loud young man heading for London boards the train accidentally, a usually easy journey descends into darkness and chaos. The train soon breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and as night falls, something...or someone steps out of the distance. Is it a man or something far more sinister?

About the authors:

Gemma Fairclough is a writer living in Manchester. She has a BA (Hons) in English Literature and a Master’s in Contemporary Literature and Culture from the University of Manchester. She recently completed the Write Like a Grrrl programme and formed a writing group with peers from the course. A range of unsettling influences, including horror films, surrealist art, and folklore inspire her writing, which frequently centres upon experiences of alienation, grief, and aberrant desire.

Neil McRobert is a writer, podcaster and recovering academic. He fled the haunted halls of higher education, to settle in an old Northern village, where he writes about scary things and runs the landmark horror podcast, Talking Scared. When he's not reading, writing, or interviewing famous horror novelists, he's out in the fields with his dog, Ted.

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick.The Six Stories series is currently being adapted for television. He lives in Newcastle with his partner and son, several tanks of rescued goldfish, a snake and a cat and an axolotl.

If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of the book, please email [email protected] or call us on 0161 274 3331.

Our event format is usually a 45 minute discussion between the author and interviewer, followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new.

Support your local bookshop and help us keep the Manchester literary scene vibrant and exciting. You can follow us on Eventbrite and social media (@BlackwellsMCR) to keep up to date on upcoming events.

Host or Publisher Blackwell's Manchester