AN AUTHOR will be holding a project to help budding writers and artists promote their work.

M.J. White, who is an author from Abbots Ann and a postgraduate at the University of Winchester, is hosting a community project titled Just Breathe in Andover throughout December.

Just Breathe will be an online e-zine, an anthology of collected art and creative writing. Overall, the project aims to bring the Andover community together through the arts. The theme of the works will be What makes you happy?.

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M.J. said: "Life is tough, and we live in an uncertain world with unstable or incompetent leaders at the helm. The scars of the pandemic haunt people who lost loved ones or were isolated and alone. The cost-of-living crisis is crippling societies and casts a dark shadow over people’s livelihoods and futures.

"Therefore, I wanted to create an uplifting anthology for those who take part and those who read it, hoping it offers some joy and happiness.

"At the same time, it will champion local artists and writers. An anthology that allows people to step back from the world and just breathe."

Just Breathe will invite users of Andover Chapel Arts Studio and students from Andover College to submit work to the project, along with writers from societies such as Hampshire Writers.

It will support and develop artists and non-artists of all ages and ethnicities, to promote diversity and equality, and to create thought-provoking writing and visual art, emphasising personal wellbeing.

The project is not just for writers and artists but also for those who have not written or created art before, to give anyone the chance to try their hand at the arts.

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The collection of writings and art pieces will be collated into an e-zine, an electronic magazine. The deadline for entries is Sunday, December 31.

Those looking to get involved but needing support can do so, with project organiser and author M.J. White running two creative writing workshops at Chapel Arts Studio on Thursday, December 14 and Thursday, December 21 from 12pm until 3pm on both dates. 

Spaces for the workshops are limited and can be enquired about by emailing apprentice@chapelartsstudios.co.uk. More information on the project can be found here.

More information on M.J. White can be found at authormjwhite.wordpress.com.