In December 2010 he organised an 1100 signature Open Letter on library closures signed by many well-known figures in the arts, literature, media and publishing such as Philip Pullman, Kate Mosse, Kathy Lette, Francis Wheen, Joan Bakewell, Lee Child, Sarah Waters, Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Holroyd, Michael Rosen, Jackie Kay, Terry Jones, and many more.
It was launched by Carol Ann Duffy and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2009, as the second phase of the annual Manchester Writing Competition (which began in 2008 with the first Manchester Poetry Prize, judged by Duffy, Gillian Clarke and Imtiaz Dharker).
In 2007 she composed the music for a major new piece, The Manchester Carols, a festive suite of new carols with words by soon-to-be Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.
Ann Arbor | A Christmas Carol | Joyce Carol Oates | Ann | Carol Burnett | Ann Perkins | Ann-Margret | Carol Channing | Carol Ann Duffy | Duffy | Lesley Ann Warren | Duffy (singer) | Ruth Ann Minner | Ann Widdecombe | The Carol Burnett Show | Carol Neblett | Ann Coulter | Cape Ann | Ann Richards | Ann Peebles | Ann Druyan | Mickey's Christmas Carol | Carol Rosenberg | Carol Lawrence | Billy Duffy | Ann Sheridan | Ann Kok | Sarah Ann Glover | Eoin O'Duffy | Elizabeth Ann Seton |
She is part of the GCSE Poetry Live team that also includes John Agard, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Imtiaz Dharker, Moniza Alvi, Grace Nichols, Daljit Nagra and Choman Hardi.
The next step was to offer days with poets such as Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, James Fenton, Tony Harrison, U A Fanthorpe, Benjamin Zephaniah, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Gillian Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead and Andrew Motion.
A typical recent season (Autumn-Winter 2007) included: Casanova by Carol Ann Duffy and Told By An Idiot, with Lyric Hammersmith; a stage adaptation of Don Quixote; Brief Encounter with Kneehigh Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Rough Crossings adapted by Caryl Phillips from Simon Schama's book; Salonika, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1982.
Names appearing at the Festival included Nobel laureate Alasdair Gray, Alexander McCall Smith, Louis de Bernières, Seamus Heaney, Ian Rankin, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Lionel Shriver, and Irvine Welsh, as well as a packed series of events for young readers.