CityLife

Manchester blog awards

Matt And Phreds

WITH local blogs springing up like mushrooms and the second Manchester blog awards imminent, the city is blooming with writers.

What’s more, increasing numbers of these are being picked up by publisherson the back of this thoroughly modern phenomenon.

The bloggers will be leaving their bedrooms to convene at Matt And Phred’s Jazz Club on Wednesday, October 22 for the Manchester’s third annual Blog Awards, to toast the best and brightest of this year’s DIY publishing talent.

Last year’s winner of the best writing category was Chris Killen, for his assemblage of literary curios on the weird and wonderful dayofmoustaches.blogspot.com, which features a 100-chapter ‘supermarket nightmare’ novel plus stories, poems, short films and instructions on how to make paper swans and interviews with cats.

Chris will be attending the awards to talk about The Bird Room, his forthcoming novel from Canongate. The evening will also features a range of blog readings, eclectic tunes from local music bloggers, and of course, the announcement of this year’s winners by the judges, including the M.E.N’s Sarah Hartley, with one being chosen as CityLife.co.uk Manchester Blogger Of The Year, winning £300.

This year’s nominee, Sally Cook, praises the new trend. She says: “The really nice thing about a blog is that you can write something that you’d be terrified to send out and just publish it yourself. The freedom of the medium is extraordinary.”

There were 107 nominations this year, from as far away as San Francisco. Organiser Kate Feld had a hard time making the final cut. “There was such a wealth of great stuff that it was harder than ever to do the shortlisting, particularly in the ‘best writing in a blog’ category.”

For a full lowdown on the nominees go to manchesterliterature.blogspot.com. but here are CityLife’s favourites…

Coco Laverne – ‘All you really need to know is that I am a better version of you’ gushes the acid-tongued glamazon. Razor-sharp, cultural criticism.

Single Mother On The Verge – Maria Roberts’ witty and offbeat account of her life as a cash-strapped lone parent. The novel is published by Penguin, and pitched as ‘Jane Eyre meets Shameless’.

Nine Chains to the Moon – Litblogger Sally Cook shares her stories, poems and cogitations with wit, whimsy and obvious talent in a beguiling online journal.

Mancubist – Rock solid local arts and culture blog from journalist and music-promoter Chris Horkan, it’s a one-stop shop for the discerning Mancunian.