I’m Lucy (of Ben and Lucy), from the Ministry of Stories, a new non-profit organisation that wants to inspire a nation of storytellers. You’ll soon be able to find the MofS through a secret door behind the store-front of the first shop to supply the daily needs of monsters of all shapes and sizes. All proceeds will go toward funding our writing centre a new home for our writing in East London. We offer young people free workshops and one-to-one mentoring, provided by volunteers: local writers, artists and teachers, all giving their time, skills and talent for free.

Back to the monsters. We would use the grant to create the first product line for the shop, working with the extraordinary imaginations of local children and our volunteers. The children would be involved from start to finish, helping us imagine the products, writing for them, helping to price and eventually sell them in the shop. Here are the kinds of things we could produce. I’ll hand you back to the children. Medusa, her eyes as fiery as lava and ears as small as a pin. She would buy hairspray to calm down her snakes on her head (Sajida). The Under-the-Bed Monster would buy a brush for his hairy nose (Julie). The Red Eyed Jackie Chan Mommy, aged 5235, likes to have fun killing people and going on a streak. He could go to the shop for a bottle of blood (Malik). The BuckTooth Chicken Monster has teeth as sharp as knives, fingers like chips and a body small as a mouse (everyone). We don’t know what to sell to him yet but we’ll have an idea.