Mayor Launches Inky Lemons – Giving Young Women a Voice
The Mayor of Hounslow helped give local young women a voice with the local launch of Inky Lemons – Hounslow Action for Youth’s (HAY) first anthology from its Young Women’s Writing Project. Officially launched at the House of Commons on 25th April at an event hosted by MP Seem Malhotra,and published by Vanguard Editions, Inky Lemons includes poems and short stories from 17 young women from HAY, supported by contributions from famous poets including Mona Arshi, Helen Calcutt, Fran Lock, Rose McGinty, Desiree Reynolds and Helen Young.
Produced as a means of raising funds for HAY, Inky Lemons, available for £7.99, is a mash-up, giving young women the opportunity to experiment with different genres – poetry, fiction, flash fiction, life writing, song writing. The work explores topics of loneliness, loss, marriage, judgement, friendship and growing up. With the support of Vanguard Editions the project has been successful in involving the support of well known writers from around the country who have provided remote mentoring for the Young Women in Hounslow.
Jacqueline Crooks, Lead Workshop Facilitator added: “The Young Women’s Writing Project was set up by HAY after focus groups found that local young women wanted to write but didn’t believe they could. They talked about their lives and sense of voicelessness – a feeling that no one was listening to them. That’s where the idea for the writing project arose. Even the title, Inky Lemons, was the idea of the young women and we all agreed that it would be an inspirational vehicle for raising funds for HAY, allowing us to give a voice to even more young women writers.
Debbie Hughes, CEO at HAY explains: “Through our Young Women’s Project we help young women develop a voice within their families and community. We provide one-to-one and group work to help improve their skills and the emotional well-being of young women aged 13-18 years. We particularly work on improving the communication skills of these socially excluded young women, helping them improve their self-esteem and self-worth. Inky Lemons is a natural extension of this work.”
Inky Lemons is available to buy on: https://hayonline.org/