Kirkcaldy pupil pens a love letter to win prestigious competition

Young Kirkcaldy writer Nathan Earnshaw has won a competition run by Edinburghs Hogmanay to pen a love letter to Europe.

Nathan Earnshaw, who is an S2 pupil at Balwearie High, is one of the winners who will have their work projected onto a building in Edinburgh between 4.30pm and 5pm, just ahead of Message from the Skies, which starts at 5pm and runs until 10pm each day until January 25.

The other two winners are from a school in Falkirk.

Nathan’s poem called Paris will be projected onto the National Monument on Calton Hill.

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The creative writing competition was open to all under 18-year old’s in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Stirlingshire.

Message from the Skies is a unique cross artform collaboration with ten of Scotland’s best artists, designers and musicians and six Scottish or Scotland based writers who have penned a love letter to Europe as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 19. Works by Chitra Ramaswamy, Kapka Kassabova, Louise Welsh, Stef Smith, William Dalrymple and William Letford are projected onto buildings in Scotland’s capital, the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, at the start of the year in which we may leave the European Union.

Message from the Skies is presented as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 19 which leads with a passionate celebration of Scotland’s shared cultural, historic and social connections with Europe.

Nathan (12) said: “First of all, I’d like to thank my RME teacher, Miss Donnelly, for this amazing experience. Without her mentioning this competition to me, I wouldn’t be able to witness my story projected onto the National Monument on Calton Hill.

“My poem first came to mind after thinking about some key themes, such as Love for Europe, and Peace. This little idea slowly grew into what I could call ‘my finished poem. The fact that I was chosen, out of all the other entries, made me feel extremely overjoyed! I’ve never felt so good. Message from the Skies has inspired me to keep writing.”

Suzy Glass, producer of Message from the Skies said, Suzy Glass, Producer for Underbelly said: “The winning entries will bring the voices of the young people of Scotland to the fore. Their powerful short pieces showcase and celebrate our personal, historical and cultural relationship with Europe. They will light up three major Scottish landmarks from now until Burns Night, standing side-by-side with Love Letters to Europe created by critically acclaimed writers Kapka Kassabova, Stef Smith and William Dalrymple.”

Nathan’s winning entry:

Paris:

When I think of you, my heart skips a beat.

When I see you, I feel enchanted. Your blissful simplicity wraps me in a blanket of comfort and When I am around you, I long for time to stop, so that we can treasure every moment we have together.

Paris, not a thing on this planet can be compared to you.

Your smell intoxicates me, like a seductive poison.

Your streets, they grace the ground that was once nothing.

Your people! Oh, how they walk with strength, and with purpose.

Your love, how it swallows me up, and has me dreaming of you eternally. Your love is like a blanket of comfort, a blanket that I’ll never forget.

When my family left me behind, I had nothing. But - it was your everlasting care and compassion that kept me going, even throughout the darkest days.

Paris, you’re not just my ‘je ne sais quoi’, you’re everything I’ve been searching for.

You are the sunlight to my thunderstorm, the happiness to my sadness, the yes to my no.

I could never live on without you.

Paris, all I ask of you is to find my loved ones and bring them back to me. I never knew that I needed them more than I do now.

I believe in miracles, that’s why you were built, Paris.

My family needs me – and I need them.

Don’t forget me, mon amour.

Never forget me.

Ne m’oublie jamais. Tu es la prunelle de mes yeux.