Ghosts at the Old Library 2024

It’s that time of year again!

One of my favourite annual traditions is to put together Ghosts at the Old Library, a Christmas ghost stories project for Levenshulme Old Library.

I've commissioned six amazing writers to each create a brand new ghost story for Christmas. The theme this year is 'households' and I took each of the writers to meet with a different local resident in their home in Levenshulme and had a chat about their experiences, their stories and the histories of their families, homes and communities, all of which then fed into writers’ completed stories.

Four of the writers are established professional writers, but two are emerging writers at the start of their careers who I've mentored over the past few months - for one of them this is their first ever publication, in fact the first piece of fiction they've ever completed, but you wouldn't be able to tell.

Featuring:

• The Woman in the Park by Lucy Edmiston

• Trespassers by David Gaffney

• The Lamb by Fia Harrington

• Instructions from the Other House by Abi Hynes

• Spirit Level by Sophie Parkes

• The Letter Box on Cromwell Grove by Reshma Ruia

The stories are now available to buy as a chapbook set, featuring illustrations by Zoe McLean. I’m currently in the midst of a run of sell-out live performances at the Old Library, and we’re also creating studio recordings of each of the authors reading their stories which will be released as podcasts and broadcast on ALLFM and North Manchester FM over the Christmas period.