Unboxing Anthony Burgess

Explore the life and work of Anthony Burgess in this special gathering at the author’s archive in Manchester. Burgess was a prolific novelist, composer, journalist and playwright. He grew up above a pub in Manchester, then travelled the world as a solider and teacher before publishing his first novel at the age of 39. He was a larger-than-life character, his reputation boosted by regular TV appearances and reactions to his famous novel, A Clockwork Orange.

The archive at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation tells the story of a writer who never stopped working, despite illness and controversy. As he writes in his autobiography Little Wilson and Big God, ‘Wedged as we are between two eternities of idleness, there is no excuse for being idle now.’

The Foundation holds manuscripts, photographs, typewriters, vinyl records, notebooks, wine bottles, pianos, a bust of his head, and a seemingly endless collection of literary and artistic paraphernalia. Come and be surprised.