Manchester Review

THE CLIMATE ISSUE 🌊

Our Winter 2025-26 issue is out next week!

Join us as we celebrate the launch in The Digital Depot, Dublin 8 next Thursday 27th November from 7pm 🎉

This event is free but space is limited and booking essential - book your ticket here: stingingfly.org/product/wint...

Dear ENSFR members,

We are delighted to present an exclusive interview with Farhana Shaikh the founder of Dahlia Books, a short story press championing diverse and underrepresented voices.

The event will take place on Monday 24th November, at 6pm (UK time), over Teams.

Marina Abramović, Balkan Erotic Epic, Reviewed by Joseph Hunter - The Manchester Review Abramović’s epic reminds you that much of life is itself a performance – that the boundaries we draw between art and ‘real’ life are, in many ways, arbitrary. Marina Abramović | Balkan Erotic Epic @ A...

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=13070

Joseph Hunter reviews Marina Abramović's Balkan Erotic Epic

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=13070

Join conversation

Join us tonight form 6:00 Pm for an exclusive interview with Ra Page the founder of Comma Press.

@commapress.bsky.social

urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

An Orange Back Ground, with Bold White Writing, giving the books title and editor.

Best British Short Stories 2025, edited by Nicholas Royle, reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles and Sam Cassells

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=13063

@saltpublishing.com

@commapress.bsky.social

Join conversation

Join us for this exclusive interview with the founder of Comma Press.

urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

The 8th Annual ENSFR Conference (June 10-12, 2026)

Dear ENSFR Members,

Following the ideas initiated at the Leuven conference in 2017 on the short story, its contexts and co-texts, the 2026 ENSFR conference will be devoted to short forms appearing in magazines and newspapers.

CFP to follow.

The Manchester Review Logo

Submission Open

15th September to 15th of October 2025

Submissions are now open for issue 28 of The Manchester Review. The Editors are looking forward to reading the best of your poetry, fiction, and non fiction.

Nathan Kernan, A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review A complete and compelling account of a masterful American poet Nathan Kernan | Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler | FSG: £25.00Reviewed by Ian Pople James Schuyler’s poetry contains extrao...

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=13055

Nathan Kernan, A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler, reviewed by Ian Pople

Henri Cole, The Other Love, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review A complex and rewarding collection that observes the fragility of love and nature in an increasingly delicate world.  Henri Cole| The Other Love | Farrar, Straus and Giroux: £12.00Reviewed by Ian Popl...

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=13028

Ian Pople reviews Henri Cole's The Other Love

Issue 27 - The Manchester Review Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Editorial Róisín Leggett Bohan, 3 poems Livi Michael, ‘Signs’ Immanuel Misfud, ‘Rue Garenne’ (trans. Ruth Ward) Cormac Culkeen, ‘My Dog Ate the Sun’ Laur...

Issue 27 of The Manchester Review is Now Live!

We aim to bring together the best contemporary writing from a range of voices from across the globe.

We hope you enjoy reading our new issue.

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk

Gastón Fernández, Apparent Breviary, reviewed by Astrid Meyer - The Manchester Review A quietly striking collection where readers are left to meditate upon the enigmatic traces of Fernández’s words, and where they might point. Gastón Fernández | Apparent Breviary (trans. KM Cascia) | W...

Astrid Meyer reviews Apparent Breviary by Gastón Fernández

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12967

Issue 27 will soon be here...

Witold Wirpsza, Apotheosis of Music, reviewed by Dylan Stewart - The Manchester Review Wipsza’s dream-like poems are absurd, but if you pay attention to the material from which these dreams are made, you’ll find them lingering with you in unexpected ways. Witold Wirpsza | Apotheosis of ...

Dylan Stewart reviews Apotheosis of Music by Witold Wirpsza

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12914

Ethel Cain, Nettles, reviewed by Edith Powell - The Manchester Review Ethel Cain’s preview single delivers everything steadfast listeners were hoping for; creating a spellbinding, bittersweet world of catharsis, melancholy, and reluctant hope. A masterful addition to a ...

Edith Powell reviews Nettles by Ethel Cain

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12903

Stuart Maconie, With A Little Help From Their Friends, reviewed by Chris Connor - The Manchester Review Maconie dives into the lives that shaped the Fab Four, bringing fresh perspectives to the infamous legends Stuart Maconie | With A Little Help From Their Friends: The Beatles Changed the World. But Wh...

Delighted to continue to dip my toes into literature, making my debut for @manchesterreview.bsky.social reviewing Stuart Maconie's Beatles, With a Little Help From Their Friends. A must read for fans.

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12899

🌺 New from DJ Taylor – Poppyland 🌺
Published Mon 2nd June, a dazzling collection of short stories explores the murky edges of nostalgia, ambition, and identity in England.

📖 Buy now:
www.saltpublishing.com/products/pop...

#Poppyland #DJTaylor #ShortStories #BookSky #IndieBooks #SaltModernStories

"an engaging, stridently witty voice brought back to life" David Rose reviews The Crib and Other Stories by Albertine Sarrazin (translated by Sonya Moor) @exactingclam.bsky.social
www.exactingclam.com/issues/no-17-summer-2025/albertine-sarrazins-emthe-crib-and-other-storiesem/

Corinne Fowler, Our Island Stories, reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles - The Manchester Review Fowler unearths the hidden legacies of slavery, capitalism and exploitation that make up contemporary British relationships with the countryside Corinne Fowler | Our Island Stories: Ten Walks through ...

Paul Anthony Knowles Reviews Corinne Fowler's Our Island Stories.

'Fowler unearths the hidden legacies of slavery, capitalism and exploitation that make up contemporary British relationships with the countryside'

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12892

Hamlet Hail to the Thief, Factory International, Reviewed by Edith Powell - The Manchester Review Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet Hail to the Thief expertly melds physical theatre, dystopian visuals, and a Radiohead album to create a masterclass in Shakespeare adaptation. Hamlet Hail to the Thi...

Edith Powell Reviews Hamlet Hail to the Thief

www.themanchesterreview.co.uk?p=12889

Forthcoming 2026 – the new short story collection from Guy Ware.

A blue swirled back featuring cartoon heads of the two hosts.

Small Pleasures podcast:

In the latest episode, Livi Michael and Sonya Moor look at two marvels of short fiction – Sarah Hall’s ‘Mrs Fox’ and Jackie Kay’s ‘My Daughter the Fox’.

Short fiction in a flash: a bite-size interview with Vesna Main, by Sonya Moor is now live on the ENSFR website.

ensfr.univ-angers.fr

Routledge Book Cover: Blue and Green design with title in white band in the middle

New Book: Anthologisation and Short Fiction: Magnitudes of Telling by Paul Delaney

This original new study explores the recent flowering of short fiction in Ireland. Specifically, it discusses the cultural, material, and ideological usages of the short form.

YouTube video by The Short Story Podcast Small Pleasures Episode 19: Sarah Hall 'Mrs Fox' and Jackie Kay 'My Daughter the Fox'

Our new Small Pleasures episode!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac0U...
@ensfr.bsky.social @ailsacox.bsky.social

Single Of The Month: "Slowly Fade" by "Last Tourist" - The Manc Review Last Tourist, on paper, may hail from Leeds, but musically they reside in the metaphysical realms of alternative rock. They are an otherworldly entity, gazing at the stars, whilst peering through the ...

Very excited to share our preview review to our next single “Slowly Fade” www.mancreview.com/2025/05/sing... @manchesterreview.bsky.social massive thanks to our friend Cindy Smith

A person looking out into the future

Final day for Papers!

Call for Papers for Ecological Futurity in Short Fiction Conference: 27th of June 2025.

The conference will take place in-person and online at the University of Manchester.

Deadline for abstracts: 2nd May 2025. To be sent to ensfrcg@gmail.com

Confingo 23 - published 30 April. Photography: Evie Spicer. Fiction: Graham Mort, Livi Michael, David Rose. Poetry: Irina Dumitrescu, Ian Pople, T.E. Niemi. Reviews: Katie Mehers, Isobel Edmondson, Matthew Adamson, Franziska Götter, H.B. Waight, Nicholas Royle. Available from our online shop.