Ministry of Stories is a creative writing and mentoring centre in east London (hidden behind a secret door in the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies shop!).
Local young people (aged 8 to 16) come to writing workshops each week to explore their creativity, build their confidence and find their voice. We also deliver innovative writing projects in schools across Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Islington.
Our Community Writing Labs are run by our Writing Facilitators, supported by volunteer Writing Mentors. There are 5 weekly sessions, each lasts 2.5 hours.
Each term, young writers work on an exciting project in a different genre including Short Stories, Poetry, Animation, Podcasts and Songwriting. Each project ends with a professionally finished outcome e.g. a broadcast (radio soap Chronicles of Hoxton Street on BBC Radio), a published book (The Awfully Bad Guide to Monster Travel), or a fully payable Escape Room (The Night The Day Was Broken)!
We are always looking for more writing mentors to support our community projects and school projects.
Mentoring is an incredibly rewarding experience and our Writing Mentors are key in supporting the Facilitator to run the sessions and in providing one to one attention to the children. Each workshop begins with a mentor briefing with the Facilitator where the session plan is discussed. After the workshop, there is a debrief where mentors feed back on their experience of the session.
You don't have to identify as a writer, but an enthusiasm to listen and encourage our young writers through their different projects.
We will provide you with training in both mentoring and safeguarding so you feel ready to be a brilliant writing mentor!