Libraries Inside Out - Skelmersdale Workshops

We've already heard from Mollie Baxter, who in this post described her experience of leading a workshop in Morecambe. Writer, journalist and tutor Jane Gallagher ran workshops in Skelmersdale as part of the same project - a joint enterprise between Lancashire Library Service and They Eat Culture - delivered as part of the Autumn Learning Revolution.

What we like best about having several different creative writing tutors work together on the same project is the difference in approach. Each tutor was given the same brief - work with young people to create pieces of flash fiction that would ultimately be displayed, projected for the whole world to see, on the outside of library buildings across the county. You can read the initial description of the project and the call out for participants here.

Jane's approach involved using images and words from magazines in order to create collages in order to inspire the final pieces of work. Here are a few samples from the group she worked with - all prompted to think about their own lives, their communities and their experience of living in Skelmersdale to create the collage that Jane would then guide them to turn into a flash fiction...

And here's a sample of the finished product... a small but perfectly formed flash just perfect for lighting up Skelmersdale - for the rest of the work, you'll need to visit the libraries and see the words for yourself. We'll tell you how and when soon. Watch this space.

The Skate Park

I spend a lot of time at the Skate Park.

I like it best around five – just as it’s going dark.

I’m usually with my friends and we watch the skaters skating.

There are houses in the distance – semi-detached ones. And bushes. Lots of bushes.

I always have my phone with me and I’m wearing my jeans and a t-shirt.

I looked down on the ground and see a picture with some writing on it - “Skelmersdale’s New Vision.”

And then the Police come.

By Tasha