How would you describe Canberra as a person?

Here's a fun writing exercise for Australia Day. 'If, as John Berger claims, London is a street urchin and Paris is a young man in love with an older woman, what sex and age is Canberra?' Writing researchers at the University of Canberra invite you to write a pithy creative response. Selected contributions will form part of a text video Text and The City: Canberra Writes Back, created by the research team, and may also be considered in research papers related to the project.

Here (thanks to Lapham's Quarterly) is what some North Americans wrote about their cities:

• San Francisco is a wiry guy in his late thirties who may or may not have had a drug problem.

• Cincinnati is an unemployed Mark Twain impersonator.

• New York is the popular kid that no one wants to tell about the mustard on his shirt.

• Montreal is an old prostitute still managing to make a living by selling pictures of what she once was.

• Halifax is the hot cousin you secretly have a crush on but won't tell anyone because that's weird.

• Washington, DC is a driven young political consultant who, despite the exhausting pace of his work, still makes time for art openings, smooth jazz, and light blogging.

Contributions about Canberra should be emailed to Peter Copeman at peter.copeman@canberra.edu.au, preferably before the end of January. Have fun!