A group of young writers brought together with help from local authors, the Orkney Library and Archive and funds from Awards For All will have the chance to put together an anthology of their work in 2012.

The Children’s writing group, Wirdsmit, began when well known Stromness writer Alison Flett and Amber Connolly, one of the members of the popular adult writing group which meets in Stromness library, had the idea of setting up a writing group for keen young writers.

Amber approached the Orkney Library and Archive with the suggestion. “We realised there was no group for young writers in Orkney, and were interested in bridging that gap by tapping into the wealth of local literary talent in the adult population. We believed that this would benefit all the individuals involved as well as, we hope, the wider community. “

With help and advice from the Orkney Library and Archive and Pam Beasant from the George Mackay Brown Fellowship, Amber - together with the Library - applied for and received an Awards for All lottery grant to fund 12 local writing workshops for children aged 8-12. The award also helped pay for a dedicated writer, Nalini Paul, to run three of the workshops and support the young writers with regular feedback throughout the year.

Nalini said: “I'm delighted to be leading some of the writing workshops for Wirdsmit and giving feedback on work in progress. The standard of writing is exceptional, for both poetry and fiction, and a pleasure to read.

“The children have shown a real commitment to their work, creating captivating writing with skill and imaginative flair."

The group has been running for 6 months now and earlier this month visited the Pier Arts Centre where they produced individual books containing some of their own poetry from sessions with Pam Beasant from the George Mackay Brown Fellowship.

Assistant Librarian Louise Graham who worked closely with Amber to attract funds for the group and helps coordinate the programme said: “The Awards for All funds have really given the boost we needed to be able to provide a really interesting programme, including expert mentoring and workshops and some great hands on experiences such bookbinding.
“With so much interest around 2011’s workshops, plans for another year of Wirdsmit are already in the pipeline.

The Wordsmit anthology is expected to be available in Spring 2012.

As part of the recent Librarians on Loan project, Wordsmit also had the chance to hear from Shetland Librarians about their young writer competition. Louise added: “The children were really inspired by the Shetland competition - we’re hoping to run a similar competition here in Orkney next year.

Feedback from the group members have included comments like:

• “This group is Fun”
• “I have enjoyed writing poems”
• ”I have enjoyed learning and writing new things”
•  “Thumbs up!”.
• ”I am learning about different styles of writing”
•  “I feel happy coming here every month,
• “Good writing!”

Anyone interested in joining the young writers group or would like more information can contact Louise Graham at the Orkney Library and Archive on Tel: 01856 873166.