Author Archives: Sarah Butler

I am very excited about the imminent launch of Not Home, a novella written by me in conversation with people living in unsupported temporary accommodation in Manchester and accessing the charity Justlife’s services. The novella will be published alongside a series of beautiful portraits made with photographer Stephen King, and personal stories which capture the everyday struggles faced by those living in unsupported temporary accommodation as well as celebrating people’s resourcefulness and strength.

The book will be launched as part of Manchester’s first Arts and Homelessness Festival with an exhibition at the Antony Burgess Centre in Manchester, 17-18 November. The work will also be exhibited at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, Jan-March 2019.

In 2014, All Change was commissioned by Islington Council to be Creative Producer for Finsbury Park Creative Hub – a three-year arts programme aiming to connect the local community with opportunities offered by the areas emerging cultural hub and changing landscape.

To truly understand how local people can and do contribute to the culture and character of a place, All Change commissioned artists Sarah Butler – writer, and Marysa Dowling – photographer, to devise a project, which would see the community tell its own story. Together, with 16 local contributors, they have used photography and creative writing to create a book of portraits – of people and a place at a particular moment of change and development.

Who Makes Finsbury Park? will be launched at Park Theatre in Finsbury Park on Tuesday 18th September.

Manchester Urban Institute’s Devo Manc hub commissioned me to write three short stories to mark the first 100 days of Greater Manchester’s first mayoral term.

The stories explore what Devo Manc might be and mean for the city. I met with a range of academics working on Devo Manc, as well as other residents and campaigners in Manchester. I asked each of them: If Devo Manc was an animal, what would it be? Their answers inspired three stories: The Mini-Pig; The Giraffe and The Whale (released next week).

This work was commissioned by Manchester Urban Institute and funded by The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account.

Re/Place(d) – stories that are right up your street

From the Gates of Hell to a grand Victorian railway hotel, take a tour of local places through the site-specific short stories of critically acclaimed and award-winning writers Elizabeth Baines, Sarah Butler, Sarah-Clare Conlon, David Gaffney, Nicholas Royle and Adrian Slatcher, set against a backdrop of archive film and photography. Supported by Arts Council England.

Saturday 1 July, 7pm, free entry. The Old Parsonage, Stenner Lane, Didsbury, M20 2RQ

Re/Place(d) – workshop

Prior to the performance event, writers Sarah-Clare Conlon and David Gaffney will lead a creative writing flash fiction workshop taking people and place as a starting point for inspiration.

Friday 30 June, 3-5pm, £5. The Old Parsonage, Stenner Lane, Didsbury, M20 2RQ

In February, poet Jacob Sam-La Rose and myself are be co-leading an intensive three day writing course for young people from The Writing Squad and Hive South Yorkshire, based at Tate Exchange and programmed by Arvon.

We will be exploring themes of exchange and considering what it means to be a writer in a visual arts space.

There are opportunities to meet the young writers and get involved on 16th (2.00-3.30pm) and 17th Feb (18.00-20.00).

I have a newly commissioned piece, titled SK-13131313-1 in a limited edition publication accompanying Dafna Talmor’s solo exhibition, Constructed Landscapes, which opens at Photofusion Gallery in Brixton, London on 9th March and runs until 6th April. Continue reading →

I have been awarded Arts Council funding to work with Justlife, a Manchester-based charity supporting people close to the streets. I will be working with staff and service-users throughout 2017, and will write a novella inspired by their stories and experiences. Participants will also work with photographer Stephen King to document their experiences of unsupported temporary accommodation.

I am thrilled to be working with the Elders Company at the Royal Exchange theatre on a creative evaluation project looking at the impact of the Elders Company on members’ lives, and investigating the relationship between arts, culture and ageing.

In 2016, we launched Elders Investigate, a programme of workshops, conversations and debates. I have been responding creatively to each event – you can read my work on the Royal Exchange’s website (bottom left hand corner!), and find out more about public events here.