Manchester creatives respond to attack with a book based on Tony Walsh’s poem This Is The Place

Following the attack at Manchester Arena by bomber Salman Abedi last Monday, the city’s creative community has responded with plans to make a book inspired by Tony Walsh’s poignant poem This Is The Place, which was read at a peace vigil held at Manchester’s Albert Square on the evening of Tuesday 23 May.

The poet and writer Tony Walsh announced on Twitter that he is set to collaborate with 61 Manchester creatives with the help of James Torry of local video production company Doodledo Motion.

Each of the contributors will take a single line of the poem and create their own individual response to it. Among the contributors already confirmed are Peter Saville, who was behind Factory Records’ graphics, and Malcolm Garrett, designer for local bands Duran Duran and Buzzcocks.

The book’s proceeds will go to the We Stand Together Fund, the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Homelessness Fund and Forever Manchester. Pre-sale is set to start tomorrow, with the book due for publication later this summer. For now though, a purpose-built site invites users to join an email list.

Update: Pre-sales are now available via Amazon