Writing the City - Part 3
What can one night on Manchester’s Curry Mile reveal about a city? Author Sufiyaan Salam explores friendship, identity and belonging through his novel Wimmy Road Boyz.
In this three-part feature, we take a look at different ways of writing the city and how cities are brought into view through journalism and fiction. Recorded live at the Off the Shelf festival in Sheffield in 2026, we talk with three writers - Gabriella Bennett, Saima Mir and Sufiyaan Salam about home, belonging, identity and wider questions of representational justice. Across the talks, key themes include how different forms of writing approximate the 'truth', how journalism and fiction give us space and time to understand cities beyond academia and what the connections are between writing the city and the right to the city.
The introduction and wrap up are included in Part 1.
In Part Three Beth interviews Sufiyaan Salam about his book Wimmy Road Boyz. Focusing on one night and one road - a.k.a the Curry Mile - Salam’s novel brings Manchester into view through “heavy pasts and heavier futures”. The conversation moves through parodying Oasis’ Wonderwall, killing Shakespeare, British ‘nights out’, and Reclaim the Night marches, to explore themes of urban anonymity, masculine friendship, rage, and Mancunian bravado.
Listen to Parts One and Two here:
Guest:
Sufiyaan Salam is a writer and former animator from Blackburn. He co-wrote the short film MAGID / ZAFAR, which won the BIFA award in 2025 and was shortlisted for a BAFTA for Best Short Film. Wimmy Road Boyz is his first novel.
Recommended Reading:
- ‘The Curry Mile’ (Wilmslow Road, Manchester) - Rusholme Archive
- Urban Institute report - Manchester, The Centripetal City: The Lessons of Property-Led Regeneration For Core Cities and Their Proximal Towns.
- Reclaim the Night - Manchester Evening News 2019
- ‘Understanding the Racist Riots of 2024 and what should be done’ - Race Equality Foundation.
- Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association
- Discussing Tanzil Shafique's City of Desire on Urban Radar Episode 24
Credits
- Guest: Sufiyaan Salam (Writer and Former Animator)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Beth Perry (Professor of Urban Epistemics at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Urban Institute)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Tom Goodfellow (Professor of Urban Development at the Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester)
- Post-Production Editing & Marketing: Dr Sam Burgum (Urban Institute Visiting Fellow at the University of Sheffield)
- Training & Production Support: Jack Clayton (Creative Media Service Support Adviser at the University of Sheffield)
- Distribution, Promotion and Marketing: Vicky Simpson (Research Manager at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Cover: Dan Farley Designs
- Music: Horizon (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Recorded & Produced by Alan Thomson), Falling Down (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Performed by the Dice, Produced by Alan Thomson)
- Image Credit: Dr Maria Tomlinson
- Special Thanks: Supported by the Faculty of Social Science and the Creative Media Suite at the University of Sheffield and University of Manchester and their Media Suite
Correct as of content publication - 03/11/2026
