Writers resident in Scotland and Scots living abroad are being asked to share their true stories of a special day. A celebrity panel will then choose their favourites to feature in some special programmes on Radio Scotland. All stories will appear on the BBC website for everyone to read and the best ones will be published in a book in 2009.
Days Like This, launched by Scottish Book Trust with BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Arts Council will "help paint a contemporary picture of Scotland through the real life stories and memories of its people."
The project aims to gather thousands of extraordinary tales from ordinary people. A grant from SAC Lottery Fund will help promote the project to a wide section of the population, including minority and immigrant groups.
Author Irvine Welsh, broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli, actress Siobhan Redmond, mountaineer Jamie Andrew, percussionist Evelyn Glennie and Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble have joined the project as celebrity curators, and will be writing and recording their own story as an inspiration for people to do the same.
Stories should be no longer that 1,000 words and can be about anything. The campaign website explains: "To take part in Days Like This, all people need to do is write about a day in their life that was a bit extraordinary: It could be the day they didn't get married, or the day they got lost in a supermarket. It can be a childhood memory or something that happened yesterday. It may be a day that still makes them smile, or makes them cry. If the story is true and centres on a single day, then we want to hear it!"
Marc Lambert, Chief Executive of Scottish Book Trust said "Days Like This is a groundbreaking national project which will showcase the ordinary genius of Scotland's people: their everyday lives are full of incident, colour and variety, which we want to capture and celebrate with as much participation and diversity as possible. By the end of the project we hope to have created a map of the country through its people's stories - a resource which will entertain, inform, and generate a shared understanding of what it is like to live in this creative modern nation".
Irvine Welsh said "The great thing about Days Like This is that it simplifies and demystifies what writing is actually about. When people start from the known or the personal, it gives them the confidence to build up and then explore new issues and forms of storytelling".
Stories must be true and must be about a single day in your life (or that of someone you know). they must be typed with a title, and clearly state the year the story took place. Email submissions are preferedm and entrants can submit only one story. Full contact details must be included but your story can be published/broadcast anonymously.The deadline is November 1st 2008.
Find out more at www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/dayslikethis or www.scottishbooktrust.com
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