Hard Pressed
Mainstream publishing has a problem and Mancunians aren’t having any of it. Meet the radical writers and DIY-publishers who transformed the literary scene of Manchester from 1977-2010, providing a platform to marginalised writers whose stories were being perpetually overlooked.
The Hard Pressed podcast features interviews with creatives that shaped a lively spoken word and print scene, plus striking readings that convey the true lives of Manchester’s people past and present.
Hosted by Heena Patel & Radhaika Kapur. Title music by Jowonio
A Cultureword production
The Hard Pressed heritage project is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks To National Lottery Players.
Follow us: @cultureword
Visit our website: www.hardpressedmcr.co.uk
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 30 minutes
- Episodes
- 10
- Years Active
- 2025
Hard Pressed: The Representation Ripple Effect
A first-hand account of the profound impact that indie presses have. Writer Neil Campbell went from browsing magazine’s in Manchester’s Central Library to a decades long writing career – all catalyse…
Hard Pressed: Citizen 32
‘Annoy the people who should be annoyed, inspire the people who should be inspired’
John G Hall, one of the founders of Citizen 32 magazine, is passionate about politically conscious literature. In …
Hard Pressed: Cheers Ta
Hear from the quintessential Manc Mike Garry about his poetic origins and how he started his press Cheers Ta in the early 2000s, publishing poetry with a distinctly live feel.
Mike was in conversati…
Hard Pressed: Nailah
Being seen, being heard, being visible. Nailah writing group and magazine was formed in the 1980s by a group of women in Moss Side searching for a place to express themselves and heal from the strugg…
Hard Pressed: Contemporary writers respond part 2
We got contemporary writers to respond to the work in Manchester's radical presses. Here Sujata Pillai finds unlikely inspiration in the doyenne of Manchester's queer and spoken word scenes - Chloe P…
Hard Pressed: Contemporary Writers Respond Part 1
We got contemporary writers to respond to the work in Manchester's radical presses. Poet Abhijeet Singh talks to Peter Kalu about the inspiration for his new pieces 'Remnant', 'Aubade' and 'Précis'. …
Hard Pressed: Shagged by the Modern Cultural Multiplicity
Mongrel Press put out the merest handful of chapbooks and spoken word CDs. But it had bite and did what it set to do. Co-founder Peter Kalu tells poet and editor Martin De Mello what it achieved in i…
Hard Pressed: Lifetimes
It's the 1970s. You're the tenant of an overlooked overspill estate on the outskirts of Manchester and you've just lost a housing dispute with the local authorities. What do you do? Write of course. …
Hard Pressed: Suitcase Stories
Suitcase Books gave Black and Asian writers from northern England the space to express their complex intersectional identities and the things that mattered to them in poetry and fiction. Founders Tar…
Hard Pressed: For the Love of the Live Scene
The radical presses of nineties and noughties Manchester were entwined with its live poetry scene. In this episode we talk to people who knew its undisputed king, the late great Diké Omeje. Thanks to…