In light of the coronavirus pandemic, this summer, our annual residential programme took place virtually. With participants connecting entirely online, we managed to maintain almost all of the key elements that make this project so special and impactful.
Post-pandemic, how could literacy education change?
For a recent virtual roundtable, we asked three prominent figures in arts and education, Prof. Dame Alison Peacock, Kate Clanchy MBE, and the Young Vic’s Lorna McGinty: What needs to be in place for the schools sector to ensure high quality, holistic literacy provision which has long term impact on outcomes for all children?
First Story writers create new BHM resources
Three writers – Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Bridget Minamore, and Khadijah Ibrahiim – have produced a series of creative-writing resources for Black History Month that can be used in the classroom and beyond. Read their powerful forewords.
National Writing Day 2020 #247Challenge Highlights
National Writing Day 2020 was framed around a mass participation creative writing exercise, the #247Challenge. As a call to action, it proved to be incredibly popular, with thousands of stories and poems shared online. Here we have collated just a few of the incredible submissions we read.
Rathbones Folio Mentorships 2020-21 Open
First Story alumni can apply until the 31 July 2020 to take part in the 20/21 Rathbones Folio Mentorships programme, for a chance to work for a year with an acclaimed pro author. Two of this year’s mentees, Mariamah Davey and Nidaa Raoof, share their reasons to get involved.
Writing From Home
National Writing Day 2020 takes place on 24 June. With most young people at home due to the pandemic, this year’s programme is being delivered digitally. Our NWD 2020 resource bank includes nine, feature-length creative writing video tutorials led by talented First Story Writers-in-Residence. We’ve been encouraging users on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to give the tutorials a try and post new writing online. Here we highlight a small selection of the pieces shared during May via the hashtag #WriteFromHome.
National Writing Day Ambassadors Announced
The impressive line-up of literary talent helping us celebrate National Writing Day 2020 includes: current and former Children’s Laureates, Cressida Cowell and Malorie Blackman; Scotland’s National Poet, Jackie Kay; Carnegie medal-winning screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce; best-selling author Mark Haddon; writer and illustrator Laura Dockrill; poet Caroline Bird; playwright Vinay Patel; and children’s author SF Said.
Announcing the 100-Word Story Competition 2019/20 winners
We’re really excited to announce the winners of the 2019 100-Word Story Competition judged by the lovely folks at Vintage books.
Regional Writing Stars – Autumn term
We ran a new competition this year – Regional Writing Stars – created to highlight and celebrate regional voices and stories.
Watch: Six Word Story 2019 finalists showcase
The 12 shortlisted stories in this year’s Six Word Story competition, performed by Juno Dawson, Nikesh Shukla, Caroline Bird, Priya O’Shea, Salena Godden, Joe Dunthorne, Bridget Minamore, Tom Holland, Tracy Chevalier, Damian Barr, Katie Thistleton, and Max Porter.
YWF19 Highlights
YWF19 in partnership with the University of Cambridge was attended by over 330 young writers and this year featured headline speaker Juno Dawson.
First Story alumna featured in Rathbones Review
Henna Ravjibhai talks First Story, working with Joe Dunthorne, and writing on the bus to college.