Wednesday 26 August 2009

Terry Gilliam season at the BFI

As the world holds their breath for the next Terry Gilliam creation, the BFI is this week taking a peek into the career and personal imaginarium of one of the most lauded and provocative auteurs currently working in film.

The Terry Gilliam season, which kicks off today and lasts for the next five days, will include showings of the spectacular fairy tale The Brothers Grimm, and the celebrated Twelve Monkeys, amongst other famous films.

With great timing, MUP launched a new book examining the work of Terry Gilliam last week. The title provides a detailed analysis of all his major work from television’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus to the controversial film Tideland. Perfect for anyone studying Film, Cultural Studies, Media Studies and Literary Studies - and anyone who thinks of themselves as a Gilliam enthusiast too!

Find out more about Terry Gilliam

Monday 17 August 2009

Memorial concert for Ewan MacColl

The memorial concert for Ewan MacColl (25 January 1915 - 22 October 1989) looks set to be a landmark folk occasion, commemorating the life and work of one of the major architects of the English folk revival. But far more than a prolific songwriter, folk singer and teacher, he was the founder with Joan Littlewood here in Manchester of radical theatre, a playwright and actor, and a passionate supporter of radical causes.

The concert, which will be held at Peel Hall in Salford on 27th October, also celebrates the re-issue by Manchester University Press of Journeyman, Ewan MacColl's vivid and entertaining autobiography. This new version has been re-edited from his original manuscript, and includes a new introduction by Peggy Seeger, his partner for the last thirty years of his life. Copies of the book will be on sale for £10 during the concert (see below for more details).

Peggy Seeger is joined at the concert by folk singers old and new. Among those taught by Peggy and Ewan in their 'Critics Group' were Sandra Kerr, John Faulkner, Bob Blair and Brian Pearson, all variously singing, writing, acting and teaching. Sandra teaches on the influential Folk and Traditional Music degree course at Newcastle University, the best training ground for folk musicians today. John Faulkner, now artist in residence at the Galway City Museum, took part in Travelling People, last of the famous MacColl/Seeger Radio Ballad series, a form revisited by the BBC in 2006. Writing for and singing in this award-winning recent series were two of the most well-known folk singers today, Jez Lowe - perhaps the best modern songwriter in the folk idiom - and Bob Fox. The line-up is completed by David Ferrard, a young Scottish/American writer of songs of peace and protest.

Tickets cost £10, and go on sale on 14th September. Call the MUP office on 0161 275 2310 for all ticket enquiries. Copies of Journeyman, the new edition of Ewan MacColl's best-selling autobiography, will be on sale at the concert for just £10.

Read more about Journeyman.

Wednesday 12 August 2009

New Open Access Journal

Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review Journal is our first to be published as an open access journal.

The journal contributes to the academic debate into race relations. It is an international, multidisciplinary journal aimed at academics, undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and practitioners in the field. The journal will be published twice yearly and will include two peer reviewed academic essays, one research paper, one peer reviewed book review as well as 40 professionally produced short book reviews.


Open access content can be accessed here.