Spotlight on the collection

“The politician, the lawyer, and the spider, they are all alike, they have the manoevering eye. Beware of these I tell you. Mind your eye. Women is more difficulter still to read than man, because smilin’ comes as natural to them as suction to a snipe.”

-          Haliburton, Thomas Chandler (1844) The Attaché; or, Sam Slick in England. London: Richard Bentley  [Bg 20-1]

Thomas Chandler Haliburton was a 19^th century novelist from Nova Scotia. He is often regarded as Canada’s first international bestselling author, and rose to popularity with his Clockmaker series, detailing the humorous adventures of his hero, the irrepressible Sam Slick. Sam featured in a number of Haliburton’s works, including The Attaché, which follows Mr. Slick’s exploits on a trip to England, detailing in his most distinctive voice his witty and often satirical thoughts and views on English society.

Haliburton is perhaps less well known now in comparison to some of his contemporaries. However his novels constituted popular light reading at the time, and this is reflected in the library’s collection, which along with The Attaché also holds copies of The Clockmaker and The Old Judge.

Portico Poetry Prize Anthologies: Amendments.

The library can now confirm full details of our prizes' anthologies.

There will be two anthologies. One will contain winners and shortlisted poems from the Portico Poetry Prize; the other will publish winning / shortlisted poems from the Portico Young Poetry Prize and winning / highly commended pieces from the Portico Prize for Young Writers.

The anthologies will be available to buy soon.

Portico Prize for Young Writers: Fiction.

The chosen pieces for the fiction strand of the Portico Prize for Young Writers:

Winner:
Ruth Baillie's "Liver Bird"

Runner up:
Rosalind Pearson's "Extreme Duck Feeding"

Highly Commended:
Viktoria Baraneckaja's "Deal with the Devil"
Joshua Chiles' "Untitled"
Jessica Clapson's "The Mess Up"
Rachel Dodd's "Untitled"
Bethany Frost's "Maleficium"
Poppy Graham's "A Place of Dreams"
Corwyn Hall's "The Darkness of the North"
Charlie Harris' "The Case of Mistaken Identity"
Robert Kaye's "A Night Time Wandering"
James Martin's "Winter Shadows"
Charis McKeown's "How Dreary is this Road I Walk"
Jason Neal's "The Last Device"
Vidya Ramesh's "Heights Short-Lived"

Commended:
Ruth Akinradewo's "The Unfailing Helper"
Harry Bowers' "Untitled"
Robyn Carty's "Mrs Potter"
Eleanor Dodds' "The Liver Bird Legend"
Isla Donohoe's "Outside"
Sarah Gilbert's "Untitled"
Miranda Gold's "The Diary of Emmeline Pankhurst"
Tia Harland-Say's "Invisible Threads"
Ella Langley's "The Buxton Line"
Saffron Lowsley's "Have You Seen Rosie?"
Shannon McCormack's "My First, First Day of High School"
Jessica McNamee's "The Boy with Biscuits in His Pocket"
Ella Nixon's "The Crimson Sky"
Daniel Price's "Martyrdom"
Artsiom Ramazanov's "Enex Tame"
Lloyd Williams' "Antonio"
Adam Woolley's "The Event Horizon"

Portico Prize for Young Writers: Poetry.

Here are the chosen pieces for the Portico Prize for Young Writers, an off-shoot of the Portico Prize for Literature.

Winner:
Erin Taylor's "Stockton Heath"

Runner up:
Ellie Price's "True Beauty"

Highly Commended:
Nina Levy's "A View from Across the Mersey"
Annie Simon's "Neighbours"
Georgia Thurston's "Weft and Weave"
Jinan Younis' "Dementia"

Commended:
Katherine Benson's "Hive of Industry"
Ella Friedenthal's "A Selection of Poems"
Hugh Lomas' "Manchester Metro-link Piccadilly to Altrincham at 23:32"
James Selby's "The Labourer's Tale"
Julie Shah's "Journey to the Centre of the Heart"

Portico Poetry Prize 2012: prize giving.

The library is delighted to announce details of a prize giving for the Portico Poetry Prize.

The event will take place at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester on Saturday 13th October, running from 1.45-5.30pm; it will be part of an event at Manchester Literature Festival called Dickens Readers' Day. The prize giving will commence at 5pm.

The event costs £10 or £8 for concessions. To book, head over to manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk.

Portico Poetry Prizes 2012: winners.

Portico Poetry Prize

1st: `In the Dock, Fagin Reflects' - Marion Brown

2nd: `Great Expectations' - Ian O'Brien

3rd: `The Ghost of Christmas Present' - Holly Hopkins


Portico Young Poetry Prize

1st: `Hospital Visit' - Natalie Steinhouse

2nd: `Hollow' - Eugenie Yen

3rd: `Biddy, Or Unrequited Love' - Emily Stevenson

Once again, thanks to all who entered and taken interest; the prizes have been very successful. The library would like to offer congratulations to the winners.

We're also delighted to say we are planning an anthology for the competition, which will incorporate the winners from both prizes and list of commended poets. To those who didn't win, keep an eye out as you may be published in the anthology!

Madeline Miller and The Song of Achilles

Thursday 6th September from 6.30pm

The Portico Library, Urmston Bookshop, and Bloomsbury present

Winner of the Orange Prize for fiction 2012

Madeline Miller

reading from her award winning debut novel,

The Song of Achilles

A breathtakingly original rendering of the Trojan War - a devastating love story and a tale of gods and kings, immortal fame and the human heart

On the New York Times Best Seller list and hailed to great acclaim.

The reviews say it all ...

“If I were to give a prize for the best work of fiction I’ve read this year, this would be the runaway winner.”   A N Wilson

 [This novel] “will appeal to young and old, men and women, readers of both commercial and literary fiction”   The Guardian

 "Miller's fantastic first novel – shortlisted for the Orange Prize this week – seems singular in its scope and scholarship" The Independent

“A captivating retelling of the Iliad and events leading up to it … it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” Donna Tartt,The Times 

Tickets - £7.per person –

7.30pm start (drinks will be available from 6.30pm)

Book by ‘phone (0161-236 6785), email (admin@theportico.org.uk), in person or through Eventbrite