"I'm just a mum."
In a moving, honest and occasionally tongue-in-cheek poem, Antonia Seaward considers what it is to be "Just A Mum."
Mary Poppins On Steroids
“In teacher training you’re encouraged to create a persona - turned out mine was Mary Poppins."
After years as a jobbing actor, Olivia Chappell decided to get a Real Job. She excelled at it; and then she was transferred to a new school... A story about putting yourself out of your comfort zone and how stepping away can make you come back stronger.
One In Twenty Three
"It still troubles me whether it's a story I have the right to tell."
When Helen Rye created a piece of flash fiction adapted from a painstakingly researched monologue in a community theatre play, she didn’t expect it would catapult her into the literary world. Now, she considers that story, its success, and the people that inspired the tragic title. A humble, thought provoking piece that explores how our achievements are sometimes hard to accept.
The Collector
"I had nowhere to escape to."
In the months following her daughter's death, writer Diane Simmons' family gradually began to return to their normal lives, but Diane didn’t seem able to move on. She couldn't write — though the image of a grieving mother at a river bank kept returning to her.
She reads the story that found its way out of that image.
Two Hundred Years Ago We Would Have Been Dead By Now
“Much of my writing comes from my life; settings and people. But the shorter pieces come from something more visceral...”
Author Louise Mangos knows sometimes a creative job is like a marathon, but she wouldn’t have made it as far as she has without her training in short pieces of fiction. In her piece for 100 Voices For 100 Years Louise reads her story ‘Two Hundred Years Ago We Would Have Been Dead By Now’ a powerful piece that talks of womanhood, desire and the life that happens along the way.
Run Back To Yourself
“Recovery is not a win or a failure.”
Playwright Emily Holyoake was never really one for cross-country; at school it more ritual humiliation than part of a healthy lifestyle. But when her father fell ill, she signed up for a 10k. And that’s where things started to go wrong.
A humorous and heartfelt piece about how Emily took the steps needed to get back in the race.
Crossing the line
"Experts thought running would make a woman's uterus fall out..."
To celebrate the London Marathon, writer and journalist Sophie Haydock shares her own experience of crossing the finishing line after 26.2 miles. Amid the sweat, aches and exhaustion, Sophie tells of her joy at being free to go the distance, when many women before her were prohibited from doing so.
Resilience
"We can choose to recognise all we have done... the mad paddling that goes on under water to create even the sleekest, smoothest glide on the surface."
Writer Laura Windley has always been good at going into battle. Using her anger, her strength and most importantly, resilience, has allowed her to keep on keeping on.
In a piece for the 75th day of 100 voices for 100 years she gives us all a reminder that whatever we're doing, we have to go on doing it, for ourselves.
Fallen Angel
Finding Walnut Way
"It feels like there’s a rubber band around your chest. Every day it gets a little bit tighter, and tighter, until you feel like you can’t breathe at all."
A year and a half ago, Susanna Bowen stopped writing. Affected by feelings of
inadequacy and self doubt, her words were the first casualty in a battle with anxiety. In her piece Susanna shares her story Walnut Way and tells us how small steps got her back on track.
Inventory
Writer and performer Ceri Ashcroft loved nothing more than making elaborate lists about, well, everything. When everything changed, the lists went from indulgence to indispensable.
In this warm and very human piece about creativity, motherhood and general survival skills, she explains why the lists keep flowing.
Resurfacing
"I had to find an alternative route... peeling away the layers of the onion to get to the real me."
Lucy felt joyless when she lost her creativity during a long battle with fertility and chronic fatigue syndrome. Then, after finally getting pregnant, she returned to making. When the opportunity to share a studio with other creative women arose she didn't look back. A glorious story of resilience.
Blue
"Year after year, I refused to put my head under..."
Author Sarah Alexander has had a murky relationship with water her whole life; from an element to be feared in her school days, it eventually inspired her successful first novel. In this open and touching piece, Sarah shares the story of her struggle with the Blue, and how the water has brought both tragedy and redemption.
Entwined
The C Word
"It was a fairly quiet afternoon in the x-ray department, so I took the opportunity to have my annual mammogram."
Being a Doctor had its perks for Sarah Burnett, including having access to some excellent healthcare facilities. But when she actually got sick, it didn't seem quite so convenient after all. A humorous and heart-felt piece about learning that the most important patient is sometimes you.
Play On
"We were anarchy, we were challenge and laughter and freedom. "
Every day is a school day with 100 voices for 100 years, but not quite like the one Sharon Eckman ran... In a joy filled piece, performer and writer Sharon Eckman explains what happened when she and her band of fellow artists took over schools in North Wales. A great piece about the positive power of creativity.
We Can Make It
Aunty Min
"The grainy photo shows a woman and her bike at the turn of the century... 100 years later a photo of me shows a similar picture..."
To Ros Ball, the woman she called Aunty Min was a kindred spirit, though she was over 90 when Ros was born. In a heartwarming piece, author and broadcaster Ros talks about how both women were enabled by their love of cycling and how much, or little, has changed in the 100 years that separate the women.
Cheese And Onion
Little Lives
"I wrote it first, then I said it in my head, and finally I said it out loud."
When Emma Flint wrote her first book inspired by Agatha Christie, aged 10, she became a writer, although she didn't quite know it. Years later, sitting on a bench at a writers retreat, she opened her eyes to her own writing style. In her piece for 100 voices for 100 years, Emma shares her story about how she dared to believe in herself. A piece that will inspire you to do the same.