Northern celebrates the literary north with Manchester Literature Festival

The partnership will see the commissioning of a poem inspired by a journey along the Manchester to Hebden Bridge line by award-winning poet Helen Mort, and two literary trails created from Manchester, the newly-awarded UNESCO City of Literature.

The downloadable trails – one will take people on a tour of Manchester’s literary hot-spots and the other the literary journey from the city to Hebden Bridge, once home to Ted Hughes – and the poems will be showcased at a launch event on a Northern train later this Spring.

Northern’s Regional Director, Liam Sumpter said: “We’re excited to have teamed up with Manchester Literature Festival to celebrate the rich literary heritage of the north. The partnership will see us working together to showcase the north and bring to life the work of talented writers from the region.

“People come from across the north to attend the many different events which form this hugely successful festival and Northern plays a key role getting them there, so we’re delighted to be taking part in this year’s programme.  A big part of our marketing is celebrating everything the north has to offer and the Manchester Literature Festival is a great example of this.”

Cathy Bolton from Manchester Literature Festival said: “Now in its 13^th year, MLF brings the world’s leading authors to Manchester, providing an opportunity for people to meet their literary heroes and discover new ones. With many of our guests travelling to events by rail we are delighted to be working with Northern on this exciting project, celebrating the landscapes of Manchester and the Calder Valley which have inspired an array of world re-known writers from Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Burgess to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and continue to shape some of our most promising writers of today.”

The MLF sponsorship is part of Northern’s We Are Northern campaign which celebrates everything the north of England has to offer. Playing a vital role by connecting hundreds of thousands of people to work, leisure, education and more every week, Northern’s footprint covers some of the most celebrated regions in the UK.

The trails will be available on an illustrated map from the Northern website. Further details about other Northern Train Trails are available to be downloaded at www.northernrailway.co.uk/walks