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First romantic fiction festival held in Manchester
The first romantic fiction festival was held in Manchester last week, which saw readers and writers gather from across the country.
Manchester Central Library hosted Love Stories etc festival on 13th July, with 28 author panels, five writing workshops and an immensely popular book stall staffed by romance experts from Waterstones Arndale.
Co-directed and co-founded by Simon & Schuster’s brand development director Sara-Jade Virtue and HarperNorth’s head of marketing and publicity Alice Murphy-Pyle, the cross-publishing festival featured authors from several publishers at all stages of their careers. Authors including Milly Johnson, Harriet Evans, Cesca Major, P J Ellis, Veronica Henry and Isabelle Broom took to the performance space, while workshops from literary agent Lisa Highton, the RNA and publishing staff helped inspire writers.
Virtue said: "Readers (and writers) of romance have long been crying out for a literary festival to celebrate the joy of love stories, so, over a coffee and cake one windy morning last September, Alice and I decided to launch one for them. Our thanks go to every author who took a chance to join us and every reader who bought a ticket."
Murphy-Pyle said: "Manchester is such a vibrant city which has hosted crime writing festivals, comedy writing, and football writing festivals, but we think this is the first romance festival! The enthusiasm from the readers, and the volume of books they bought, was incredible. We are so grateful to the publishers and authors who helped to make the weekend so special, as well as the incredible teams at Manchester Libraries and Waterstones, who put so much effort into the day.
"I’ve always thought Manchester was quite a romantic place at heart, and it’s been proven once and for all! We hope to run Love Stories etc in 2025 too!"
