We are excited to share with you news that we have received a National Forest Arts Grant for Whispers from the Woods - a brand new creative writing project for young people to share experiences of Nature during Coronavirus Lockdown. A huge thank you to The National Forest for their support.

‘Whispers from The Woods’ is a new poetry and creative writing project organised by Arts Melbourne (the organisers of Melbourne Festival) and aimed at YOU! Made possible through a National Forest Arts Grant. The project aims to document the experiences of young people from South Derbyshire of interacting with nature during Coronavirus Lockdown.   

We want to know how the coronavirus pandemic has affected young people and how interacting with nature may have helped during these uncertain and difficult times. This could be walking or exploring in the woods for the first time since childhood, meeting friends for a socially distanced picnic, walking the dog or exercising outside with the family.

We’re asking young people from the local area to write one sentence, summing up their experiences of interacting with nature during lockdown, to be included as part of a woodland poetry trail. These sentences will be printed at set locations throughout Melbourne and The National Forest and form the basis of a poem to be created by Dan Webber, a poet and published author based in Derby.

To submit your line of text to the project or for more information, please visit the Melbourne Festival website www.melbournefestival.co.uk or email info@melbournefestival.co.uk