Arrivals is a five-part podcast developed through Levenshulme Old Library, sharing the stories of people who have made Manchester their home after moving here from elsewhere in the world.

I developed the project in response to the increasingly hostile way migration is being discussed publicly, including during a local by-election in Levenshulme. Rather than trying to make an argument about immigration in the abstract, the idea was to create something where the actual people who have experienced migration to speak at length about their own experiences - what brought them to Manchester, what they left behind, how they built new lives and communities, and what it means to belong somewhere.

Across five episodes, the series features people whose journeys began in Pakistan, Poland, Ireland, Romania and Nigeria. Together, their stories form a portrait of Manchester - and particularly Levenshulme - as a place shaped by migration, while retaining the detail and individuality that can disappear when people are discussed simply as a demographic or political category.

The interviews were led by oral history facilitator Jennifer Vickers, with audio production and editing by sound artist Emily Zurowski.

You can listen now wherever you find podcasts.