Our ambassadors
We’ve always been incredibly grateful to benefit from the support of high-profile writers. First Story Ambassadors help raise awareness of our work and inspire our young writers.
Patrice Lawrence MBE FRSL
Patrice is the author of nine books, including Eight Pieces of Silva and Orangeboy. She won the inaugural Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize, was awarded the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction and the Bookseller YA Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. Patrice’s books explore themes of race and class, offering young people from under-represented communities the opportunity to see their lives and identities reflected on the page.
I am incredibly proud to be the ambassador for First Story. Young people are funny, passionate, compassionate, astute and often deeply empathetic. It’s a privilege to represent an organisation that elevates those voices which are so often ignored.
Patrice Lawrence
Tracy Chevalier FRSL
Tracy is the author of 10 novels, including the international bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring, which has sold over five million copies, been translated into 43 languages, and was made into a film. Tracy grew up in Washington DC and moved to the UK in the 1980s. She and her husband divide their time between London and Dorset. She is a Trustee of the British Library and the Dorset Museum, and a Patron of Fine Cell Work and the Lyme Regis Museum.
First Story does impressive things with young people, helping them to express their creativity without the worry of being examined for it! It would be wonderful if every UK school had a First Story programme. I am delighted to add my voice as an Ambassador.
Tracy Chevalier
Inua Ellams MBE FRSL
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is an award-winning poet, playwright and curator. Identity, Displacement and Destiny are reocurring themes in his work in which he mixes the old with the new, traditional with the contemporary. His books are published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches, Penned In The Margins, Oberon and Methuen. Alongside his own practice, Ellams, facilitates workshops in creative writing for participants of all ages and backgrounds.
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It’s viscerally important for young people to write freely in their own voice and get a chance to share their ideas with peers. Creativity is invaluable when you are young, and First Story are experts at fostering Youth creativity.
INUA ELLAMS
