Writing Around the Kids exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

Image by Sabrina Carter Left – CEO of B&HM Hedley Swain with participants in Writing around the Kids project

Writing Around the Kids launched its exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 22nd July.

The project works with mothers of young children to enable them to write creatively. The exhibition displays a selection of the work produced by the women, inspired by objects, images and costumes in the museum.

It was run in partnership with Brighton & Hove Museums and New Writing South and supported Heritage Lottery Funding.

I found Brighton Museum & Art Gallery an inspiring place. I loved the clothes and the photography exhibition. I enjoyed listening to other people’s writing and feeling proud of whatever I’d managed to get out on paper. Knowing I’d have time carved out in every week to feed my creativity.

— Jessie Brown, participant.

The work is part of an exhibition in the museum which will run until September 2023 and includes writing by the participants, illustrations by artist Ulrika Jarl as well as audio recordings of the writing read aloud by the authors.

‘Brighton and Hove Museums are delighted that our collections have inspired such interesting pieces by the women writers who took part in Writing Around the Kids. We are pleased to be displaying their work in Brighton Museum over the summer for all our visitors to enjoy.’

— Hedley Swain, Chief Executive, Brighton & Hove Museums

Co-Directors Anna Jefferson and Sam Johnson began the project having recognised in their own lives how difficult it is to carve out creative time amidst family life.

Anna Jefferson is a playwright and novelist. She has written for stage and screen since 2005. Anna has published three novels. Winging It, (2020) and Nailing It, (2021) both with Orion, and The List for Living with Penguin Random House, Germany (2024.) She is currently working on her fourth book. Anna lives in Brighton with her husband and two children.

Sam Johnson is a freelance writer, with an MA in Creative Writing from University of Brighton. She has been facilitating creative writing workshops since 2017. Sam has poetry published in two anthologies and had work performed in the Brighton Fringe Festival. She lives in Brighton with her husband, two sons, and her rescue dog. Sam is currently working on her first novel.

Writing Around the Kids perfectly demonstrates that we all have the potential to be creative, even when time and energy are stretched to the limit. The quality and originality of the women’s writing on display in Brighton Museum and Art Gallery is both persuasive and genuinely moving. New Writing South is proud to be a partner on this project and we hope museum visitors are inspired to have a go at creative writing themselves after reading the work. We look forward to continuing to work with Anna and Sam to encourage many, many more creative mums to write around the kids. Lesley Wood, Chief Executive, New Writing South.

To find out more about the project, please visit www.writingaroundthekids.co.uk.