News Release - Wednesday 18 June 2008

Celebrities Help Launch Nationwide True Story Project

A host of Scottish celebrities have joined Scottish Book Trust, BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund to launch Days Like This, a new and exciting campaign which will help paint a contemporary picture of Scotland through the real life stories and memories of its people.

Days Like This will give people across Scotland the chance to be a part of the nation's history by writing about a special day in their life which made a strong impression on them. The project aims to gather thousands of extraordinary tales from ordinary people and reach as wide a section of the population as possible, from born-and-bread Scots to newly-arrived immigrants, and from all corners of the country, from Edinburgh to Orkney.

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"

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.

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".

Roddy Woomble said "Days Like This offers everyone in Scotland the chance to contribute, to tell their story, and create a literary time capsule, detailing the experiences, the trials and tribulations, the yarns and histories, the fortunes and mishaps of the people living in Scotland in 2008. It's got the potential to be quite a book".

Evelyn Glennie said "I enjoy projects of this nature because they enable me to go beyond my day to day events and to reflect on what is special about my life, my career and my future. I am really looking forward to reading the entries and sharing other people's experiences".

Jamie Andrew said: "I believe that everyone has an interesting story to tell.  As a very ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances, I am greatly aware of the incredible lives that ordinary people lead.  Days Like This is a wonderful opportunity to provide a platform for those stories, to collect them together and make them available for everyone."

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.

Anyone can send a story! Stories should be no longer than 1,000 words and can be about anything as long as it's true! All stories will appear on the BBC website for everyone to read. The celebrity panel will choose their favourites to be recorded and discussed in a series of radio programmes and published in a book in 2009. Details of how to enter can be found on www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/dayslikethis

David Stenhouse, Senior Producer at BBC Radio Scotland said "Days Like This is a major project for Radio Scotland in 2008. We want to hear about the most important day in your life. If your story is true, personal, and a little bit unexpected, Radio Scotland wants to hear from you."

Iain Munro, Co-director of arts at the Scottish Arts Council commented "Days Like This is an exciting, inclusive project which is open to everyone and will encourage the nation to share stories and get writing. We hope that it will help collect the extraordinary experiences of Scottish citizens which can be enjoyed now and kept for posterity".

Scottish Book Trust is the leading agency for the promotion of literature, reading and writing in Scotland. It develops innovative projects to encourage adults and children to read and write, supports professional writers with a range of projects including skills development and awards, funds a variety of literature events and promotes Scottish writing to over 10 million people worldwide. www.scottishbooktrust.com

Scottish Book Trust will receive £489,097 from the Scottish Arts Council towards the cost of foundation funding for 2008/09 to support the organisation which leads the field in reader and writer development, delivering high calibre, innovative, bespoke programmes to people of all ages across the country. Days Like This is supported by the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund with a £25,000 grant to support outreach work and help promote the project to a wide section of the population, including minority and immigrant groups.

Days Like This was inspired by Paul Auster's book True Tales of American Life and by a similar project developed by BBC Northern Ireland.