Everybody’s favourite Mancunian literature/drinking event, No Point In Not Being Friends, is taking a hard-earned break I’ve just discovered:

In part, to concentrate on planning a couple of big summer/autumn events we’ve got coming up (Camp Bestival and the Manchester Literature Festival) but also, because No Point is going to have a bit of a format change when it emerges from its spring cocoon, we think.

Chris and Sally go on to warn that a new No Point ‘may not be monthly anymore, and it might not even be in the same place’, which would be a pity as the Deaf Institute has a lot of fans – myself included. We await its future direction with bated breath!

In the meantime, Manchester’s literary scene continues to develop. CityLife devoted a double-page spread to it on Friday – and the website is chock full of news and features, such as Carol Ann Duffy being named as Manchester’s first female poet laureate and a preview of Paper Planes, a creative writing workshop that takes place in Fuel in Withington this coming Saturday. Katie Popperwell and her writers there doing a great job of giving editorial coverage to things that may otherwise pass us by, so long may that continue.

Tonight, meanwhile, there’s another literature event happening: the eighth instalment of The Other Room, which features Matt Dalby, Alex Davies and Allen Fisher, takes place at The Old Abbey Inn on Manchester Science Park from 7pm.

And finally, the Writing School at Man Met has launched this year’s Manchester Fiction Prize, with £10,000 up for grabs and a deadline of 7 August set. Visit the Manchester Writing Competition website for more information on that.

One new thing and one old to tell you about today…

The former is An Apathetical Reader, which is ‘a creative community site that hopes to give a voice to the vast numbers of unsupported, disillusioned young people in the city and question why individuals feel apathy towards their own work’. It’ll achieve this through local news, national political comment, features of Manchester, music journalism and artist’s profiles.

The latter is The Chapel on the edge of Platt Fields in Rusholme/Fallowfield. This building, which dates back to 1790, was used as a meeting place for Manchester Amateur Photographic Society (itself founded in 1885) and the Russell Leite Theatre School until it was purchased a couple of years back.

Now, however, it’s being run by the same ambitious group of ex-students who launched Platt Fields’ Mad Ferret festival last year and who took over the (now closed) Ram & Shackle pub. Their aims, according to a post on Indymedia.org.uk, are  to provide an autonomous space for performing arts, learning, access to the arts and local campaigners. I’m hearing lots of grand ideas coming out of this unusual building, so best of luck to them.

And the link between these two? AAR will be holding an open meeting at The Chapel this coming Wednesday from 7pm. If you fancy getting involved, email Alice or join the AAR Facebook group.

Nope, not of the soppy variety. And in fact I’m bypassing the whole event myself by heading out to Hebden Bridge to see Denis Jones play at the launch a new quarterly folk night. If you’re in Manchester, however, there are a couple of interesting things going on tomorrow…

The first is at the Royal Exchange, where Brad Fraser’s True Love Lies is in the middle of its world premiere run. The play – ‘think Six Feet Under meets My Family’ – is gaining nothing but very favourable reviews. It’s on until 21 February and tickets are priced £8.50 to £29.

The other is taking place at Nexus Art Cafe on Dale Street in the Northern Quarter. From 10am right through to 7pm, the place is being transformed into a ‘Wagamama-esque banquet hall’ in order to create ‘a space to meet brand spanking new people and make brand spanking new friends’. I read somewhere that they’re also getting a piano in, for one night only.

The other hugely important Valentine’s Day-related news is that over at Rainy City Stories we’ve picked a winner for our love story contest! It’s called The Shortest, The Coldest and it’s written by first-time writer Craig Melville. There were five finalists in total – and I’m very pleased because my three favourites (from the 56 stories and poems submitted) made that shortlist. Check them out here.

[Lovely badges courtesy of www.koolbadges.co.uk]

The Manchester Film Co-operative is a non-commercial group that runs a monthly film night at the Kings Arms, one of Manchester’s (well, Salford’s) best pubs. It launched in May 2008 and has since offered a selection of films aiming to ‘challenge current economics, politics and society’:

Screenings are followed by informal discussions led, where possible, by activists and experts. They provide a lively and friendly space in which progressive alternatives and ideas can be explored. The screenings bring together a diverse range of people and groups committed to exploring political alternatives as well as specialist cinema fans. It aims to inform, educate and inspire as many people as possible through film and discussion.

This month’s event – tomorrow, Tuesday 20 January (7.45pm, £3) – features Garbage Warrior, a film that’s apparently about a guy who creates a radical solution for sustainable housing, waste and power. The discussion afterwards will be hosted by Urbed, another Manchester-based co-operative specialising in urban design, renegeration, sustainability and community involvement.

I’ve never heard of Garbage Warrior, nor really any of the other films they’ve shown – but it looks like an interesting group and well worth checking out. It being a co-operative, you can buy a share (for £5) and get involved by proposing films, speakers, themes and the like.

MFC is similar to the Chorlton Film Insitute that I mentioned previously. That institute continues with Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead on Thursday 19 February at St Clement’s Church.