Louise Mulvey’s cultural highlights

Louise Mulvey is a writer and counsellor, living in Manchester. She is curious about the stories we tell and who listens to them. Simply put: words have the power to change lives.

Play: Bog Witch by Bryony Kimmings, on tour in the UK until October 2026

The set is imposing: a white stage with sparse branches and a huge backcloth, but in this solo show Kimmings punctures the gravity with jokes about the ‘hole in her soul (not that hole)’. It can be hard to find the right tone with autobiographical material, given the emotional closeness of the writer/performer to the material, but this is Kimmings’ genre, and she achieves it with skill and charm. The story involves profound loss and acceptance, but her lightness, comic timing and jokes (songs included) bring us on side and make what could have been preachy or bleak, entertaining and wholesome – in a good way.

https://www.bryonykimmings.com/ 

Album: Lux by Rosalia

Lux is the fourth album by Rosalia, which I bought in December 2025 after Zadie Smith on the BBC Sounds podcast Sidetracked called it ‘transcendental’ and both of the show’s hosts were spellbound. Featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and a guest appearance by Björk, Rosalia calls Lux a ‘radical, operatic pivot’. The scale and power of the orchestra is impressive, demonstrated by Rosalia’s performance of the lead track ‘Berghain’ with Björk at the Brit Awards in February 2026. Beyond the orchestral arrangements are flamenco and gentler tracks, like the delicate waltz ‘La Perla’, and thundering synths and rock effects from the genres of dub and metal. I wince at the aggression in Mike Tyson’s tirade, which she uses, but that doesn’t detract from ‘Berghain’. Best to listen to the whole album to hear the sequence of tracks. I prefer CDs to streaming, holding a physical object and following the vision of the production team to lead me through the narrative and emotional arc of the full album.

https://www.rosalia.com/

Book: Clear by Carys Davies

This is a beautiful book, tender but unsentimental, focused on the human cost of economic change and the lives of farmers in the Highlands. A visual, textural writer, Davies’ prose has a cinematic quality in its attention to landscape and spare dialogue. The hapless, idealist church minister has the diffuse, soft focus of the lately concussed. His wife is clearer-sighted, perceiving what is ahead and is unafraid to meet it. Davies describes life changing events with an understatement that feels like respect, not dismissal. By focussing on the environment, not emotions, she expresses the need to survive without melodrama, just as a matter of fact. It feels authentic, attentive, unbiased. Events are condensed to the essentials in a way that feels unhurried, for example, the growing love story is told with a discretion that respects these quiet men and feels appropriate to the time. Fresh, respectful and open.

https://www.carysdavies.net/clear

Community workshop: Wendy Roby at What If?

The wit and creativity in Roby’s work is striking. I first saw her exhibition Half Tone at ARC (Arts for Recovery in the Community) in Stockport. Roby runs workshops for community engagement across the North West of England, using ink made from plant or material waste, in particular a durable ink made from oak galls found in local parks. So Roby is perfectly placed for What If?, an ideas café set in a Victorian meeting house that aims to create a sense of place, connection and to build community through creative projects. I rarely paint or draw so my expectations were low, although I always want to improve. When you start from scratch (literally, in the case of screen-printing, on this occasion using scalpels, needles and sandpaper to etch into a cleaned drinks carton or Tetra Paks) anything is a bonus. Spending two hours learning a new skill among friendly strangers was a fantastic introduction to What if?; just as fiction takes me to other places, this workshop landed me firmly in the present, etching me into place.

https://robyworkshop.com/

Café: ‘Hinterland’: Alcohol-free bar and vegan café

This is the third rebirth of the café sited in the basement of the Manchester Buddhist Centre on Turner Street. Welcoming and stylish, with abundant plants and colour drenched walls, the emphasis is on celebration, not renunciation. Drop in for poetry readings, philosophy nights, or work your way through the substantial menu. Zenicillin cocktail anyone? Mine’s an IPA.

https://www.instagram.com/hinterland.bar/

Favourite WritersMosaic Magazine writer

Hard to pick one, but I recommend fiction writer, essayist and novelist Leila Aboulela. I came across her short story ‘The Circle Line’ which, from the opening line, ‘Cheese melts in London like nowhere else’ pinpoints specific textures and uncertain feelings, as the protagonist edges from one stage of her life to the next.

Louise Mulvey

Louise Mulvey is a writer and counsellor, living in Manchester.