8 x 8 2013

Last week on 30.10.13, students from Stockport College BA(hons) Illustration and MMU’s Creative Writing Course, gathered together to launch this years ‘8 x 8’ Book. The event was held at the new Manchester School of Art in a plush lecture theatre. This is the fifth annual collaboration between the two courses and is the result of the bringing together of two student projects. Firstly the writers at MMU are asked to write short fiction, these stories are then handed over to the illustrators at Stockport to bring to life visually. This creative partnership is then showcased in a book and sold.

The evening was introduced by tutors Robert Graham (MMU Cheshire) and Joanna Spicer (Stockport College). The writers then took turns to read extracts of their stories and also interview the illustrator who responded to their story about the thinking behind they image they created. The audience could follow the story in their purchased books and the illustrators artwork was projected at a large scale. It was a wonderful occasion with both writers and illustrators feeling very proud that their hard work had been celebrated and brought together in a publication.