Manchester Literature Festival presents Natalie Haynes  

Mancheser Central Library

15th June 2026

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natalie haynes
James Betts

Bestselling author and broadcaster Natalie Haynes returns to Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her powerful new novel No Friend to This House – an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea.  

Based on Euripides’ classic tragedy, No Friend to This House explores love, vengeance, power and survival, as Medea faces an impossible choice that will change the course of her and her family’s lives. Known for her bold and compassionate retellings of Greek mythology, Natalie brings fresh life to this ancient story, placing one of literature’s most misunderstood women centre stage. 

Join us to see experienced broadcaster Natalie Haynes discuss her enduring passion for the classics and why these ancient stories continue to resonate so powerfully today. 

‘It’s superb: sharp, funny, inventive, powerfully humane…she is one of the most brilliant women in the media.’ Katherine Rundell 

‘Muse, sorceress, high priestess, Haynes is all of these, but above all she is the consummate storyteller.’ Adam Rutherford 

‘an illuminating and often thrilling work of feminist reclamation…Haynes creates an account of her maligned protagonist that is powerfully affecting in its complexity.’ Guardian 

Natalie Haynes is a Sunday Times bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster. She is the author of novels The Amber Fury, The Children of Jocasta, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; A Thousand Ships, a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective and Stone Blind, a re-telling of the Medusa story. Her non-fiction books include The Ancient Guide to Modern Life; Pandora’s Jar about the women in Greek myths and Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth. 

She has written and presented eleven series of BBC Radio 4’s Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics and is celebrated for bringing Greek myth and classical history to a wide contemporary audience. 

A Manchester Literature Festival event. 

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