This October, we’re asking you to join our very first Monster Month and raise money to support our young writers in celebration of our 12th Birthday!

This year, the Ministry of Stories celebrates 12 years of bringing imagination, mischief and monsters to the young people of east London!

We hope you will join us and help fundraise for our free community writing labs programme. We want to make sure we can continue to create a special place for imagination and offer young people across Hackney a chance to discover their voice, confidence and creativity.

Sign up and help us to hit our £12,000 target so we can continue to champion young people's creativity in the year ahead.

Our Monster Month is our first virtual challenge. Whether you're a lone creature or part of a pack, we need you! You can take part in a way that best suits you, your lifestyle and your interests and we have an idea for every kind of being.....please take inspiration from below:

• Zombie Monster Mission: Why not try a sponsored 12 mile walk during October?
• Werewolf Monster Mission: Like running places? You could do a sponsored 12 mile run!
• Kraken Monster Mission: Bit more splashy? How about a sponsored 1.2 mile swim?
• Cyclops Monster Mission: Got one eye, but great legs? How about doing a sponsored 12 mile cycle ride?
• Gremlin Monster Mission: Sports not your thing but feeling a little crafty? Make crafty or cookery creations or host a Halloween dinner party to raise funds! We all like to eat!
• Invisible Ghost Mission: Maybe you are too busy out spooking people to get involved in a challenge this October? Feel free to make a donation instead and help us along the way. Thank you!

To sign up for your own Monster Mission, please click top right to 'Fundraise for Us' and design your own personal challenge. Once you've got your page ready, make a donation of £5 to it to cover the Registration Fee and get started! We hope everyone will aim to reach a fundraising goal of £250 to help us hit our target of £12,000 this October and please register by Sunday 18th September to take part!

Need more information? Please get in touch for our Fundraising Pack, questions or anything else at [email protected]

Thank you - we can't wait to find out what you get up to. Costumes optional (but encouraged!).

Maya and the Ministry of Stories team

About us

We are Ministry of Stories, a children’s creative writing charity in east London, founded by author Nick Hornby. Since 2010, we have supported more than 15,000 children and young people to write brighter futures for themselves through the power of their ideas and imaginations. We work across local communities in Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets. Our innovative writing programmes and workshops are delivered by professional writers to schools in east London, and we provide free after-school and Saturday writing labs for children and young people at our community writing centre, hidden behind our own fantastical shop Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.

‘Ministry of Stories has helped me to stretch my already humongous imagination’ Adam, age 11

A Hackney without imagination, now that would be scary!