'Open the Windows' - Poetry & Medicine

Contact: Call 0845 208 0500 or via Manchester Literature Festival

Join us for the first joint reading by Rebecca Goss and Denise Bundred, who have explored through poetry their respective experiences as mother/patient and doctor.

In 2007 Rebecca's newborn daughter Ella was diagnosed with a rare and incurable heart condition at the hospital where Denise worked as a cardiologist. However, they only met later as poets.

This event also features music celebrating 'breath' specially commissioned from Chris Davies by the National Aspergillosis Centre (NAC), University Hospital of South Manchester, which treats patients with fungal disease of the lungs.

Rebecca Goss's second collection, Her Birth (Carcanet/Northern House), recently shortlisted for the prestigious 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collection, begins with Ella’s birth, her short life and her death, and ends with the joys and complexities that accompany the birth of another child.

Denise Bundred trained as a paediatrician in Cape Town, South Africa, and as a paediatric cardiologt in LIverpool where she worked until her retirement in 2008. An MA in Writing at Liverpool John Moores University persuaded her to write poetry. Her poetry was Highly Commended in the Hippocrates Prize 2012 and 2013.

Freelance musician/performer Chris Davies works mainly with visual theatre and dance, and is interested in music as a means of bringing a sense of well-being.

The National Aspergillosis Centre (NAC) and Manchester Literature Festival are delighted to host this unique celebration of 'opening the windows' between families and NHS staff, and between medicine and the arts.

Entry: Free, but please book in advance

Time: 2:00pm