Sara Ahmed - No Is Not a Lonely Utterance - Manchester Book Launch

Join us for an evening with Sara Ahmed in conversation with Dr Senthorun Raj as she launches her new book, No Is Not a Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining.

📅 22 October 2025*

⏰6pm - 8:30pm (doors open 5pm)

📍the Whitworth

🎟️ Book your tickets now

Sara Ahmed joins us at the Whitworth for an exploration of the solace and power of listening in an unjust world. Ahmed builds on the success of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook.

Weaving together testomonies from various walks of life, Ahmed shows us that we learn about the ways institutions excersise their power when complaints are raised, and indeed what we learn about our capacity to collectivize and create social bonds through complaint.

Sara will be joined by Dr (Sen) Raj who is Reader in Human Rights Law at Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University as they discuss Is Not a Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining.

We will be selling copies of Sara's new book on the evening, where she will be availabe to sign copies at the end of the evening.

*Please note this is a special Wednesday evening event - the exhibitions will not be open.

About the Author

Sara Ahmed is an independent feminist scholar who works at the intersection of feminist, queer and race studies. Her research is concerned with how bodies and worlds take shape; and how power is secured and challenged in everyday life as well as institutional cultures. She has published eleven books including The Feminist Killjoy Handbook.

About Dr Senthorun Raj

Dr Senthorun (Sen) Raj is a queer Tamil critical legal scholar who works in the intersections of emotion, culture, race, gender, sexuality, and justice. Dr Raj is Reader in Human Rights Law at Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University. He is the editorial lead of “Queer Law,” a book series published as part of Palgrave’s Socio-Legal Studies series and serves on the Editorial Board of Feminist Legal Studies. His monographs include The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms: Repairing Law (Edinburgh University Press, 2025) and Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: Injury, Intimacy, Identity (Routledge, 2020). He has also co-edited two collections, The Queer Outside in Law: Recognising LGBTIQ People in the UK (Palgrave, 2020) and Queer Judgments (Counterpress, 2025). Dr Raj is the former chair of Amnesty International UK and remains a glitter and pop culture connoisseur.

About the venue

The Whitworth is a venue with level access throughout, and facilities to support you during your visit. Alongside this our visitor team will be on hand to assist you in the gallery. Find out more about planning your visit to the Whitworth and accessibility information for you.

If you’d like to speak to a team member about any access or additional needs, please get in touch with the gallery and we will be happy to assist you. Email whitworth@manchester.ac.uk or telephone 0161 275 7450.

The Whitworth art gallery and gardens is driven by a mission to work with communities to use art for positive social change, and actively addresses what matters most in people’s lives. We are proudly part of The University of Manchester, operating as a convening space between the University and the people of the city.

(Image: Sara Ahmed (c) Sarah Franklin)

(Image: Sen Raj - Academic Picture 2025)