Right Place, Write Crime: The Launch of ‘Crimelines’ at John Rylands Library

 

In the wonderfully gothic surroundings of Manchester’s John Rylands Library, authors gathered to share stories of intrigue and misdeeds. The writers came together to celebrate the launch of a brand new book from the team who brought you the enormously successful Timelines anthology.

Crimelines is a brand new collection of short stories aimed at young readers and is written by students and staff of the Manchester Writing School. Potential contributors were invited to submit short stories with a ‘crime’ theme. Following a rigorous selection and editing process, the resulting diversity of range and content is a triumph. The book’s co-editor, Livi Michael, a tutor at the Writing School and an accomplished novelist in her own right, said,

“We are really proud of this anthology. It’s the third that we’ve actually done and each time it has stepped up a little in quality and production value. Each story is beautifully illustrated by a student from the [Manchester Metropolitan University] School of Art. We think this project is unique. As far as we can tell, we are the only university who is publishing its finest writers in a professionally produced book. All the writers are fantastic and I’m sure you will see them in the future with different works – but this will be the first time they have been published.”

Many of the book’s twenty authors were at John Rylands Library to read excerpts from their own contributions and give the audience a flavour of what to expect from the Crimelines anthology. The stories ranged from tense thrillers to laugh-out-loud comedies, such as Dale Hannah’s C S High. Dale told us,

“We were asked to submit and we were just given the theme of crime, which was really open to interpretation. I was very nervous about doing my reading today. I enjoy doing the writing but I’m not a reader-performer, but it’s a great setting to do it in. The acoustics are great and the place is just very, very nice.”

Dale Hannah

Special

The collection’s fellow co-editor, Iris Feindt, was left beaming with pride following the readings. Iris told us,

“It went so well! There were no seats left, people were sitting on tables! I’m so pleased for the writers because they’ve been looking forward to this for so long and they read so well. I think everybody got a lot out of it.

“We are really happy with the book and we’ve sold lots of them here today, which is amazing. We are very lucky that we get to launch our books in amazing venues such as this. Last week we were at Ordsall Hall, we are here at John Rylands today and we have a special event in October at Chetham’s Library which is also a stunning venue. We are just really, really lucky. It makes the authors feel very special – to be in a special place like this, rather than just reading in a seminar room. You are reading somewhere that is atmospheric and beautiful.”

It’d be a crime not to order Crimelines. You can get your hands on a copy here.

–NH

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