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Monday night saw the last events of this year’s Chorlton Arts Festival calendar. This one, in Chorlton Library, was suitably sedate after ten days of razzle-dazzle and involved readings by two local writers: Heather Leach and Robert Graham. The pair are connected by the independent publishing house Salt: Heather has a story in the newly released Salt collection The Best British Short Stories 2011, edited by Didsbury-based author Nicholas Royle; Robert’s 2009 novel The Only Living Boy and latest offering, A Man Walks Into A Kitchen, are on Salt.

Heather kicked things off by reading from Nick’s introduction to the anthology: “The best stories take you somewhere new, somewhere different, or they take you somewhere you might have been before but by a different route. They help you see the world afresh. They wake you up and make you dream, both at the same time.” She has chosen to read a number of stories from the book that illustrate Nick’s criteria perfectly, firstly Foreigner by Christopher Burns, an unusual tale about a couple who have split up following the death of their soldier son. She follows this with Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart, which, she explains, uses a continuing metaphor to build up a picture in the reader’s head.

Next Graham takes to the floor, reading an extract from The Only Living Boy about a bunch of teenage friends who take an MGBGT for a spin. “It felt more like being in a cockpit than a car”, was one of the many good descriptions. He then introduced his friend who helped him voice the first entry in his pamphlet Four Stories, about a Polish waitress called Irena and her parrot Bogdan.

Heather then made a reappearance, explaining and recommeding Notes On A Love Story by Philip Langeskov, then actually reading an extract of Michele Roberts’ Tristram and Isolde, with (apparently) the author’s trademark themes of sex and food. She then gave us her own story, So Much Time In A Life, outlining some of the background to the character who she’d had in the back of her mind for about five years. Finally she gave us Winter Break, by Man Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel, before passing back to Robert for the first two very funny chapters of his latest book (of which there weren’t any copies for sale due to an admin error, though he was very apologetic and promised to deliver copies personally if anyone wanted one!).

All in all a very interesting and enlightening evening.

Words: Sarah-Clare Conlon. Check out her award-winning blog Words & Fixtures.