Writer in Residence

Now I'm Writer in Residence in two places at once!

I began the year by becoming WiR at the Portico Library in Manchester, which is a little oasis of calm in the city. And now I'm taking up a similar role in my favourite cafe bar in town, Taurus on Canal Street.

What does a Writer in Residence do? Well, I've never been one until this year and my best guess is that it means me sitting there now and then with a coffee or a glass of red wine, scribbling away in my notebooks. Loads of stuff I've written has been out and about in public spaces already. I wrote much of 'Strange Boy' in Via Fossa, also on Canal Street. And every single word of 'Exchange' I wrote under the dome of the Central Library. So I like writing and thinking new things up when I'm sat out and about in the world. When I lived in Edinburgh every single thing I wrote I wrote in cafe bars, the length and breadth of that place. In the summer of 1997 I had three hardbacked notebooks - one for my journal, one for 'Could it be Magic?' and one for 'The Scarlet Empress'. I would rotate them through the day, working through pitchers of frothy iced coffee.

Right now I'm hoping that these two very different locations - the cosy lamplight of the Portico and the convivial chatter and tinkling glass of Taurus - will inspire me to create something completely new, in situ. Anyway, if you see me there, working away in the afternoon or early evening, do say hullo.