Made in Wirral

Made in Wirral

graphic reading Made In Wirral with every letter in different colours and styles

As part of Wirral Libraries’ Culture and Creativity offer, thanks to funding from Arts Council England (supported using public funding by the National Lottery) and Wirral Council, a multi-disciplinary creative arts project was delivered in the summer and autumn of 2022. The project was called ‘Made in Wirral’ and is part of the ‘Make It in Libraries’ programme, which promotes and supports culture and creativity within Wirral Libraries through externally funded projects.

Working with creative practitioners based in Wirral Libraries, the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, and online, this hybrid programme consisted of a creative writing course for new writers with accompanying illustration workshops to enable the creation of a visual response to their written work. Drawing inspiration from the theme ‘the Wirral,’ the resulting short stories and papercuts now form a lasting digital and printed anthology.

The digital anthology can be found within these co-created webpages (in partnership with the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum) and the printed anthology is available for loan from Wirral Libraries both physically and as an eBook.

Participants were also invited to showcase their work at a special celebratory event and accompanying exhibition at Bebington and Wallasey libraries. This event was recorded and can be viewed at Wirral Councils’ YouTube channel from January 2023 (Wirral Libraries playlist). Participants were offered a workshop and individual mentoring to perform their stories and professional actors supported the event.

Additionally, the project supported an early career practitioner who assisted the creative illustration workshop facilitator. Professional development for library staff was embedded into the project and the librarian team curated a book collection, available via Wirral Libraries, to support local emerging writers, regional publishers and authors.

We hope the anthology of their stories and illustrations will give our new writers well-deserved pride and confidence to continue to write independently. To all our participants who attended workshops in 2022: thank you. Your talent, dedication and commitment has been wonderful to witness and we wish you the best in your future creative endeavours.

We would also like to thank our wonderful creative practitioners listed below who have made this project possible. Please take the time to view the webpages and read the wonderful illustrated stories.

Special thanks to:

Arts Council England

Wirral Council

Charlie Lea (Read Now Write Now) Creative Practitioner and anthology editor

Nicola McGovern (Imagine Attic) Creative Practitioner

Vicki Lucas le Bon (Artist) Creative Practitioner

John Maguire (ArtsGroupie CIC) Creative Practitioner link to webpage

Julia Johnson (Williamson Art Gallery & Museum) Digital Officer

Kirsten Hume

Wirral Libraries

photograph of a white man with short hair, a short beard and black glasses, who is smiling. He is standing in front of a large bush which fills the entire background

About Charlie

Charlie is the principal of Read Now Write Now, a literary arts organisation, specialising in delivering creative writing workshops for writers of all ages across the northwest of England. An author himself, Charlie loves working with new writers, helping to break down all the things they need to think about to write their own stories.

Other recent writing projects include: Climate Champions for 7-11 year olds. The Future 2050 for 7-11 year old and the The Write Time project for adult beginners across Lancashire, Blackburn, Blackpool and Bolton.

readnowwritenow.org.uk

photograph of a market stall, with the words "imagine attic" written on the wall behind. A display stand shows a range of prints and cards, and a woman is popping her head out from behind and waving.

About Nicola

Nicola is a professionally trained visual artist with extensive experience in delivering community art projects. Her participatory work aims to encourage learners to make their own decisions, express their individuality and develop their creativity and confidence.

Nicola also produces multi-layered papercut illustrations and custom portrait commissions under the brand name Imagine Attic and 3D work for public art trails including Knowsley Borough Council’s recent The Owl and the Pussycat Trail.

The Authors

detail of an illustration of birkenhead park gates in black with grey columns an a tree visible in the background, with the author's name Kim Aspinall written over the top

detail of a woman's eye from a painting with the author's name - mark baker - written over the top

Photograph of a woman with blonde hair and glasses standing in front of a lighthouse, with her name - Michelle Best - superimposed over the top

photograph of a woman with her name, Judith Callaghan, written across

Photograph of a woman with dark hair, smiling, with her name - Bev Clark - written over the top

Photograph of a woman with glasses and short hair smiling, with her name - Kate Deegan-Munro - written over the top

detail of an illustration with a woman's eyes looking out of a window with blinds with the author's name, G Rogers, imposed over

Photograph of a pink flower opening, with the name Jan Evans over the top. Photo by Daniel Holtzhouse on Unsplash

photograph of a woman's face with her name, Joanne France, written over the top

paitning of a beach and the sea with the authro's name - Andrew Livingstone - written over the top

image of a dancer looking in the mirror, with the name of the author - Belinda Ludlow - superimposed over the top

a woman with long light hair in a pink shirt, with her name - J MacLean - imposed over the top

photograph of a small boy with a bar of chocolate in his dungarees packet with his name - the name of the author of this story - Colin McAuley - written across the top.

Photograph of a small bird coming out of a bird house. Photo by Vincent Van Zalinge on Unsplash

photograph of a woman with her name, Elizabeth McLeod, written across

detail of an illustration of a woman's smiling face and the word ASDACADABRA in a lightning bolt with the authro's name - george phillips - written over the top

photograph of a woman's face with her name ANDREA POWELL overwriting it

photograph of a car interior showing the steering wheels and the dash illuminated in blue, with the author's name - Michelle Richards - written in white over the top

stock image illustration of david and goliath. David is wielding a sword over the body of goliath

snippet of collage of pomegranate, flowers and female figure with the author''s name, Francoise Rutland, imposed over the top.

illustration of a bonfire and moon with the author's name Paul Sandford written over the top

detail of an illustration with a mermaid diving into a blue sea, with the author's name - Cathy Taylor Simpson - written over the top

photograph of a trowel bug into a sandy-pebbly beach, with a name Gillian Williams superimposed over the top

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum