Writing Around the Kids will be launching its exhibition at Crawley Museum this week

The Writing Around the Kids project works with mothers of young children to enable them to write creatively.

The exhibition will display a selection of the work produced by these brilliant women over the course of the project, run in partnership with Crawley Museum, New Writing South and supported by Arts Council England and Sussex Creative Community.

SEE ALSO These are the Crawley Borough Council facilities to reopen when restrictions lift on July 19Co-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 is a playwright and novelist. She has written for stage and screen since 2005. Anna has published two novels. Winging It, published in November 2020 and Nailing It, published in April 2021, both with Orion.

She is currently working on her third book. Anna lives in Brighton with her husband and two children.

Sam 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 is slowly writing her first novel while wrangling her two boys.

“Crawley Museum is committed to working with local communities to ensure that we represent the lives and histories of everyone who lives in Crawley. We have loved being involved in the Writing Around the Kids project and are delighted to be able to host the work of local residents in our galleries,’ said Andrea Dumbrell, Crawley Museum Director.

The launch is an opportunity to hear from those behind the project as well as listen to readings from some of the participants. To find out more about the project, please visit www.writingaroundthekids.co.uk.

"From the very first session, I was inspired – by the sharing of experiences of the group, the diversity of the group and how I was able to actually cobble a piece of writing together from a standing start. This group has uncovered things about me that I wasn't even aware of myself. That I had an ability to write about everyday things and life experiences – things that many of us experience, in a simple, straightforward way. Who knew I had a storytelling ability inside of me," said Michelle Morley, Project Participant.

The work will become part of a permanent exhibition in the museum and will include writing by the participants, illustrations by artists Ulrika Jarl as well as audio recordings of the writing, much of which was inspired by objects in the museum.