International Day of Older People
The International Day of Older People (IDOP) takes place each year on 1 October. To celebrate the event Out In the City members went to “Saturday Afternoon Fever!” organised by Manchester Central Library and featuring singer Dee Dee Allen.
We were treated to afternoon tea, singalong and dancealong classics. There was a pop quiz – Name the Decade – and Out In The City members correctly answered all 20 questions and won the prize of two boxes of chocolates!
Collaborating with academics
Between April and June 2026 Len Grant was working with academics at the University of Manchester as they used creative methods to research older LGBT people’s experiences of home and care.
Older lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people experience health and social inequalities which continue into later life, and their needs are often poorly met by housing and social care services.
There were a group of eight older LGBT people participating and five workshops were held. Some participants were also met individually in their local neighbourhoods. This work explored methods that enable people to express their experiences over time and space, through movement, material things and feelings.
More about the project here.
Waiting On A Friend: Natalie Adler in conversation with Monica Pearl
Friday, 9 October – 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Blackwell’s Bookshop, 146 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9GP
Book here (£5 General Admission / £17 Book and ticket)
Join us for a conversation on Natalie’s debut novel, set during the AIDs crisis of 1980s New York.
We are thrilled to welcome Natalie Adler to Blackwell’s in partnership with the University of Manchester’s Centre for Sexuality Studies and Culture. Natalie will be discussing her debut novel, Waiting On A Friend, set amidst the AIDs crisis in 1980s New York. Natalie will be in conversation with Dr Monica Pearl, senior lecturer and veteran of ACT UP New York.
About Waiting On A Friend
East Village, summer of 1984. Renata is a young dyke-about-town who has the ability to see ghosts, which has been happening more and more frequently as her friends have started dying of what has recently been named AIDS.
So, when her best friend Mark dies, she assumes she’ll see him again. There’s no way Mark wouldn’t give her a chance to say goodbye, would he? But to her disappointment – and increasingly, her concern – Mark doesn’t appear.
Renata has other problems, too. A mysterious, police-like force has begun ridding their East Village neighbourhood of anything abnormal or inexplicable. At first, she’s sure they’re scam artists, but it becomes clear they’re actually trapping ghosts. With her band of lovably eccentric pals and lovers, Renata is determined to fight back against the erasure of her friends’ memories and the sanitising of her beloved New York.
About the author
Natalie Adler is an editor at Lux magazine. She was a 2022-23 Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow at the Centre for Fiction. She has an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College and a PhD in comparative literature from Brown University. She is from New Jersey and lives in New York City.
If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of the book, please email events.manchester@blackwell.co.uk or call them on 0161 274 3331.
The event format is usually a 45 minute discussion between the author and interviewer, followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new.