Over the past 6 months, I’ve been working with British Bangladeshi women from Hyde Community Action in Tameside on a Heritage Lottery funded project to make digital comics telling the stories of their heritage, lives and experiences. We’ve been doing a wide range of activities including: planning stories using pinboards; visiting museums and galleries; developing digital skills; and discovering how to tell stories using words and pictures. You can see more of the activities here.
Every member of the group is creating her own comics using an app called Book Creator. The comics will be finished by early autumn when we start the dissemination phase. This includes workshops in schools, libraries and at MMU; stalls at comics and literature festivals; and a celebration event at Hyde Town Hall.
In our last session before the school holidays, I asked the women about their experiences of the project so far. These are some of the things they said:
I’ve enjoyed telling my story. It’s helped me to remember my background and given me an opportunity to talk about the past.
I learnt how to use comics tools and how to express myself using pictures and writing to make a story.
I was able to express myself about personal issues.
I feel like I’m a writer now!
If you want to know more about the project, or about the events we’re running in the autumn, please email s.mcnicol@mmu.ac.uk