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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

19 September 2022

Posted by Emma Scattergood

Introducing the team


Hello, my name is Emma Scattergood and I am delighted to be able to introduce myself as one of the lead writers/facilitators on The Stories From our Streets project.


I have had a long career as a writer and editor, working for various publishing companies and also for Bournemouth University, where I launched the MA Creative Writing & Publishing and the in-house press Fresher Publishing. I also established the Bournemouth Writing Prize, teach writing for wellbeing and am a founder/trustee of a Dorset charity called The Story Works. 


Working with the local community and encouraging people to put pen to paper has been central to many of my roles, so I couldn’t be happier to be tasked with encouraging residents in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to write and share a personal short story (or essayette/poem). We will be collating these stories in various ways - probably the most exciting of which will be in an interactive map, enabling users to click on a postcode and discover stories from the people living in that area. We also plan to publish the stories in books and/or zines (with the help of creative writing/publishing students from BU and AUB) and maybe even display them in an exhibition. 


What I find most exciting, however, is how this project has the potential to benefit the people of BCP in so many different ways: people with no writing experience will, hopefully, discover just how rewarding it is to put thoughts down on paper; communities will gain a better understanding of the people living in their area; and people across the region will be given the opportunity to have their voice heard and valued.


As we want to reach as many people as possible, myself and my co-facilitator, Simon, are taking an area of BCP each. I will be covering the area to the east of Bournemouth University/AUB, and Simon will be taking the area to the west. Initially, This means I will, initially, be based mainly in Christchurch library, engaging with the groups who already use the library as a place to gather and inviting others to come and participate in the writing workshops I will be holding there, with the assistance of volunteers. Please do get in touch with me if you would like to get involved in any capacity, either to offer your story or help others share theirs. You can find me at emma@artfulscribe.co.uk

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