Upon receiving Christmas Cards as my object for the Museum of Childhood exhibition; I in all honesty was totally stumped. Such an object deserved a response which captured the warmth, fun and sweetness which Christmas Cards provide every year…I felt I had none of these literary attributes. The fact I had never written a sestude before (only 63 flippin words), hardly made me feel more capable. However, after many hours of staring at a blank page and copiously consuming scientifically dangerous amounts of tea, I settled on the concept that I didn’t have to convey any of those attributes at all. I could use characters to do so. I love historical characters, like these Cards are part of a historical world; my characters are too, they just happen to be fictional.

Using a combination of characters writing cards from different times in history, from 1843-2015, I hope I have produced something entertaining and sweet, encapsulated within the historical context within which Christmas Cards reside. This project has given me great pleasure, I adore history and the fact that these characters are now in their own way part of history too, only makes me smile.

By Niall Moorjani