Ministry of Stories teams up with the Hackney Citizen

Hoxton A.M.: free inside this month's Hackney Citizen

Inside this month’s edition of the Hackney Citizen, you’ll find a copy of Hoxton A.M., produced by a team of 30 young journalists aged 7 – 11, working with local charity The Ministry of Stories.  The weeks leading up to the production of the paper have been a busy, challenging and inspiring time for all concerned, not unlike other newspaper experiences!

The team, all of whom live or go to school in Hackney, have spent six Saturday mornings hard at work at the Ministry, which is cleverly concealed behind a secret door at the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Store.

Hours have been spent thinking about what they find interesting and newsworthy, both in their local area and beyond. Ideas for stories have been developed with the help of writing mentors, as well as professional journalists and photographers.

Speaking about the Hoxton A.M. project, Gem Ahmet, project leader said: “I was continually inspired by the ideas our young journalists brought to the sessions. It became as important and exciting to me to explore ideas such as ‘what we are afraid of’ as to see them grow into finished features for the paper.”

Just one year old, the Ministry of Stories was founded in November 2010 by bestselling author Nick Hornby, together with Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne. Payne, a co-director of the charity, said: “We’ve welcomed over 2,700 young people to creative writing, soap opera script, poetry and copywriting workshops.

“We’d love to hear from more volunteers to work in the shop and help with mentoring, especially anyone with time to spare during the day Monday to Friday.”

To volunteer, visit The Ministry of Stories or phone 020 7729 4159.

If you’re aged between 10 – 13 and live in Hackney, the Ministry of Stories needs you to help write more stories for Hoxton A.M. Register your interest by emailing writing@ministryofstories.org.