From Manchester with Love

Faber presents the long-awaited biography of Factory Records co-founder and Manchester icon Tony Wilson by bestselling author Paul Morley.

‘When forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend.’ Tony Wilson

To write about Tony Wilson, aka Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliable narrators, constantly changing shape and form. At the helm of Factory Records and the Haçienda, Wilson unleashed landmark acts such as Joy Division and New Order into the world as he pursued myriad other creative endeavours, appointing himself a custodian of Manchester’s legacy of innovation and change.

To Paul Morley he was this and much more: bullshitting hustler, flashy showman, aesthetic adventurer, mean factory boss, self-deprecating chancer, intellectual celebrity, loyal friend, shrewd mentor, insatiable publicity seeker. It was Morley to whom Wilson left a daunting final request: to write this book.

From Manchester with Love, then, is the biography of a man who became eponymous with his city, of the music he championed and the myths he made, of love and hate, of life and death. In the cultural theatre of Manchester, Tony Wilson broke in and took centre-stage.

Paul Morley will be appearing at Manchester Literature Festival on Saturday 9 October to launch From Manchester With Love. Tickets will go on sale in mid August at manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

Writer, broadcaster, and cultural critic Paul Morley has written about music, art and entertainment since the 1970s. He wrote for the New Musical Express from 1976 to 1983 and formed the Zang Tumb Tuum record label with record producer Trevor Horn. A founding member of the Art of Noise and a member of staff at the Royal Academy of Music, he collaborated with Grace Jones on her memoirs and is the author of a number of books about music including The Age of Bowie (a Sunday Times bestseller), his history of classical music A Sound Mind (a Sunday Times Music Book of the Year) and a biography of Bob Dylan, You Lose Yourself, You Reappear.