In the News
November 23, 2010
It seems we’ve been in the newsy and on the interweb a fair bit since we opened our doors on Friday. The Ministers and I agree this news is as spreadable as Brain Jam, that we should share it with you. So this is some of the news…18th – 22nd November, 2010.
Nick Hornby sets up Ministry of Stories to create ‘a nation of storytellers’ by Heidi Blake, The Telegraph (18 November, 2010)
Hornby aims to entice children into the writing workshops through the fantastical frontage of a “monster supply store,” where “fang floss” and “human snot” will be sold.
Behind the scenes, an array of famous authors such as Smith, Doyle and Michael Morpurgo will teach children from eight to 18 how to inject flair and imagination into their writing. MORE >>
Nick Hornby opens Ministry of Stories to get Britain’s kids writing again by Allegra Stratton, Guardian (18 November, 2010)
Hornby, along with art entrepreneurs Ben Payne and Lucy Macnab, is going open his new Ministry of Stories – plus the world’s first supply store for monsters. The author hopes that a fantastical shopfront will lure children into something rather less fantastical, if no less fun: literacy lessons. MORE >>
Nick Hornby launches east London school writing project by BBC News London (19 November, 2010)
Mr Hornby said: “The aim of the Ministry of Stories has been to create a space where young people can gain free workshops and one-to-one mentoring with writers, artists and teachers. MORE >>
Inside Nick Hornby’s Ministry of Stories by Richard Sprenger, Guardian (19 November, 2010)
Author Nick Hornby and art entrepreneurs Ben Payne and Lucy Macnab open the first Ministry of Stories centre in east London. Based on Dave Eggars’ San Francisco project 826 Valencia, the volunteer-run Hoxton Street Monster Supplies aims to inspire children in creative writing. MORE >>
London’s Ministry of Stories: Nick Hornby, Inspired By Dave Eggers, Races To Save Our Imaginations by Claire Mc Cormack, Time (19 November, 2010)
Forget about Hogwart’s “Ministry of Magic”, you can now en-role in Hornby’s “Ministry of Stories.” MORE >>
Ministry of Stories opens behind monster shop facade by Andrew Hosken, Today Programme, BBC (19 February, 2010)
A shop selling tins of the heebie-jeebies and canned human snot is not going to appeal to anyone unless it really is what it claims to be, a supplies store for monsters in east London.
But behind the creepy facade is an initiative designed to re-awaken children’s imaginations and get them writing their own stories. MORE >>
My monster idea by Nick Hornby, Financial Times (19 November, 2010)
Behind the shop is a space where up to 30 children can come at any one time, a space that will augment their education while at the same time looking nothing like an orthodox school. MORE >>
Nick Hornby: A champion for the written word by The Observer (21 November, 2010)
The Ministry of Stories Literacy Project will turn an empty shop in Hoxton, east London, into a purveyor of monster supplies intended to draw a stream of young people across its threshold. Once inside, the children will find, in Hornby’s words, “a ministry of stories secreted behind its humble facade”. MORE >>
The Ministry of Stories by John Simmons, 26 Fruits (21 November, 2010)
At last I can talk about the website I’ve written for the Ministry of Stories. I was approached to do this in August and last Friday I went along to the launch of the Ministry of Stories in Hoxton High Street in London’s East End – because the Ministry is more than just a website, it’s a real place. To get inside the Ministry you have to go first to the Monster Supplies shop, where you can buy anything a monster might need…MORE >>
Hoxton pupils help Nick Hornby launch Ministry of Stories by Jasmine Coleman, Hackney Gazette (22 November, 2010)
The centre, the first of its kind in the UK, provides writing and literacy programmes in a rather unusual setting. Hoxton Street Monster Supplies offers products for monsters – from fang floss to tins of terror. MORE >>
The Ministry of Stories opens for children who want to write by Frances Booth, Guardian (22 November, 2010)
Freshly sharpened pencils sit neatly on a table that still smells of wood. Five never-sat-on bright red chairs are tucked underneath. Paper is put out. The books on the shelf are straightened. We wait. There is a knock at the door. Into the writing centre tumble a class of children, full of excitement, and so they should be. MORE >>
