A New Year Message From Pen to Print
Hi Everyone,
It’s become a bit of a tradition to send everyone an end of year message, so in preparation, I took a look back at last year’s message and was part surprised, part comforted that so much of it still rang true for this year.
Again, we’ve faced quite a difficult year, with many of us facing significant challenges. These continue to include financial constraints brought on by decreasing budgets and increasing costs, loneliness, the loss of friends and loved ones and, of course, poor health. Then there’s politics, ever-deteriorating international relations, war, extreme weather… The list goes on and on. It often feels like events are on a forever downwards spiral so, in an effort to protect my own mental health and lift my spirits and those around me, I choose to focus on the good things.
Pen to Print celebrated its 10-year anniversary which is a fantastic achievement, made possible by the wonderful Pen to Print community and creatives who have contributed to the project over the last decade. I am so proud of the team here at Dagenham Library and their tireless dedication to deliver such quality time and time again. It has been such an uplifting experience to look back on the past ten years, reflect on where we started and how far we’ve come. And it has been extra special to have long-time members as well as people new to the project approach us and thank us for what we do and the community we are building. We couldn’t do this without all of you getting involved and sharing your creativity. To echo last year’s message – that’s why Pen to Print exists: to bring together writers, poets, artists and readers into our growing community network. Writing can be such an important form of expression and release and, if you’re part of Pen to Print, being a writer needn’t be a lonely occupation, either. What’s the point of going through the trials and thrills of creativity if you can’t share it with people who can celebrate, commiserate and lift you up? We’re here for all of that.
In case you missed it, here is our celebration montage from our in person anniversary event:
Here’s just a short round-up of some of the wonderful achievements we’ve helped make happen in 2024.
We provided mentoring for five more writers through The Book Challenge to complete manuscripts which will all be published as books:
– The Toffee Man And The Kingdom Of Ends by Linda Quinn (winner)
– The Poster by James Marshall
– Flat-Coat by Amanda Wynne
– Not My Little Joseph by Danny Fenn
– The Lost Cabbage by Filippo Rossi
Huge congratulations also to the winners of our Pen to Print Speech & Drama Festival, The Michael Feld Writing Competition for Young People, the Pen to Print Short Story Competition, the Pen to Print Poetry Competition, the Pen to Print Essay Writing Competition, the Pen to Print Barking & Dagenham Staff Writing Competition and the Pen to Print Audio Play Competition. You can read the winning entries here and entries are now open for next year’s competition. Find out more here: pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions/
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Back in May, King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted the inaugural Creative Industries Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on May 15 and Pen to Print were honoured to be among those invited to this prestigious event.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla were joined by the Duke of Edinburgh and Duchess of Gloucester as they hosted the Garden Party in the spectacular gardens of Buckingham Palace, for approximately 4,000 representatives from the world of culture, art, heritage, broadcasting and fashion, who came together to celebrate the creative industries.
Pen to Print has delivered another year’s worth of classes and workshops with a variety of amazing experts. Working with the London Library, we have again provided access to facilities not normally seen as assessable to working class and minority writers. We’ve run several themed open-mic nights, organised and delivered another fantastic ReadFest event plus themed workshops for our Romance, Sci-Fi and Audio months.
This year’s Write On! magazines have been exceptional. Circulation has increased, showcasing our talented pool of writers and contributors to a growing readership and I’m pleased to say the Write On! volunteer team continues to grow and develop. Although, of course, we are always looking to welcome new people. Write On! also celebrated its five-year anniversary which is a fantastic achievement. We can’t wait to see what the magazine will deliver in 2025.
As we celebrate Christmas and the New Year, we know there will be difficult times ahead with many more challenging decisions to be made. However, we believe that if we are supporting others and being supported by an amazing network of friends, we can get through anything together.
Thank you all for being part of our community. We hope you get as much pleasure from it as we do. Compassion and understanding should therefore be our first response to any situation and we should never be tempted into acting in anger and retribution, instead channelling our feelings into writing and creativity. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
With ‘Freedom’ being our current theme, we hope you have the freedom to create, share and grow in all your creative endeavours in the coming year. We can’t wait to see what 2025 brings and look forward to discovering this new year together.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year from the Pen to Print Team – Lena, Lisa and Mohammed.
All the best
Lena Smith,
Pen to Print Library Project Manager.
We do know that Christmas and New Year can be a very difficult time of year for some people.
If you need help, please visit our Advice and Support Page
with links to organisations that are there to help you.
You are not alone.
The Write On! and Pen to Print team put together a small Christmas gift. You may have already seen it, if not here is a very special treat, The Twelve Days of Pen to Print Christmas. Enjoy!
With 'Freedom' being our current theme, we hope you have the freedom to create, share and grow in all your creative endeavours in the coming year.