On 30 March 2023, more than 240 First Story participants from across England came together at the University of Cambridge to take part in our annual Young Writers Festival. Held for the first time at …
East Midlands
Six Word Story 2022 winner, national finalists and special mentions announced
Our first competition of the academic year, the Six Word Story competition is a challenge in concise storytelling. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's famous six word story "For sale: baby shoes, never …
Announcing: Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships 2022/23
We are now in the sixth year of our partnership with the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize, through which talented First Story students benefit from working one-to-one with an acclaimed writer from …
Folio mentorships 2022 showcase
The Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships scheme gives talented First Story alumni the opportunity to be mentored for one year by experienced, acclaimed writers from the Folio Academy. On a hot summer …
Six Word Story 2021 shortlist and winners announced
The 2021/22 academic year got off with a bang thanks to our annual Six Word Story Competition. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's six word story, we challenge our young writers to entice us in just six …
Young writers exploring higher education through Connect events
Held during the autumn term, our region-specific Connect events are designed to connect young writers with each other and with local education and cultural opportunities where they live. Each event is …
Announcing: Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships 2021/22
This is the fifth year of our partnership with the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize, through which talented First Story students benefit from working one-to-one with an acclaimed writer from the …
WATCH: Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships 2020-21 Showcase
Now in its fifth year, our exclusive partnership with the Rathbones Folio Prize offers a unique opportunity for talented First Story alumni to be mentored for an academic year by five acclaimed Folio …
Young Ambassadors programme pilot
We announced First Story's new Young Ambassadors programme with much excitement in autumn 2020. At that time, we had no idea what lay ahead in terms of the impacts of the pandemic; contending with …
Kate Clanchy supports our CPD provision for teachers
Developing the creative writing skills and confidence of teachers is integral to First Story's mission. For our work to have a lasting impact, the culture of creative writing in schools needs to …
Creative Writing and Social and Emotional Learning
After reading the National Literacy Trust's tenth annual literacy survey, published earlier this month, First Story's programme manager for the East Midlands, Jess Tickell, reflects on the …
First Story partnership with Unislam
For the past year, First Story has been working in partnership with Unislam, the National Slam Poetry Festival, to place its artists as 'shadow writers' in First Story schools. Jess Tickell caught up …
Regional Writing Stars – Autumn term
This autumn, First Story ran a fun new bi-annual competition called Regional Writing Stars. This competition is designed to highlight regional voices and provides us – the team at First Story, across …
Six Word Story 2019 shortlist and winner announced
It's been another great year for our Six Word Story competition. With the sheer variety and ingenuity on offer, shortlisting this year was tough. Somehow we settled on our top 12, before handing over …
Six days in Lviv ‘where every third person is a poet’
I’ve recently returned from six days in Lviv, Ukraine’s cultural capital and one of Nottingham’s sister UNESCO Cities of Literature. Like Nottingham, Lviv is a young UNESCO City of Literature, rich in …
