Post your letter to the Unknown Soldier

Writers in Bury are being urged to take part in a national project to mark the 100^th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

“A Letter to an Unknown Soldier” is a new kind of war memorial, one made only of words. People across the land are invited to write a personal letter to the ‘unknown soldier’ who stands on the memorial on Platform One of Paddington Station in London. 

This is a unique chance to be part of a nationwide public artwork, to express your own thoughts and feelings in this anniversary year and to have your work published online alongside the work of authors and poets such as Malorie Blackman, David Almond, Owen Sheers, Benjamin Zephaniah, Val McDermid, Liz Lochhead, Melvin Burgess, Andrew Motion and Caryl Churchill. The project will be eventually housed as a national archive in the British Library for the benefit of future generations.

Bury writers can get involved by attending one of two free writing workshops to support this memorial. The workshops will be led by author E.M Powell and will feature original archival material of Bury’s past to further inspire you:

 
• The Centre for Cultural Collections (Bury Archives and Local Studies)  – Saturday 12 July (11am – 1pm)
• Prestwich Library – Wednesday 16 July (1.30–3.30pm)

To book a place on either workshop, ring 0161 253 6782 or email culture@bury.gov.uk

If you can’t make it to a workshop you can still get involved in one for the following ways.

 
• Writing your own letter - get inspiration from the website (www.1418now.org.uk/letter), watch the video (http://www.1418now.org.uk/letter/about/) and submit your letter online or by post from now until 4 August;


• Reading the letters that have already been submitted - www.1418now.org.uk/letter/letters - from 28 June you will be able to read all the letters the unknown soldier receives - including yours if you join in; 


• Getting others involved - if you're a teacher or in a group who would like to be part of the project, download the resources to get ideas for you, your students and your group's letter writing (www.1418now.org.uk/letter/resources/). 

Follow the project at www.twitter.com/LETTER1418 and www.facebook.com/LETTER1418

ENDS

Press release issued: 24 June 2014.

Note to editors:

E.M. Powell is an author of historical novels and short stories. A member of the Historical Novel Society, she reviews fiction and non-fiction for their magazine, the Historical Novels Review, and their website. Her short story “Kisses for Dada” was a finalist in the London HNS 2012 contest. She drew
inspiration for this story from a letter included in Merseyside Maritime Museum's Titanic exhibition. Her monologue “Off the Streets”, about the experiences of a police officer in 1890s Manchester, was performed at the Irish World Heritage Centre in March 2014.