In its sixth year, the Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships scheme pairs six talented First Story alumni with acclaimed writers from the Folio Academy, receiving a year of 1:1 mentoring support to further develop their writing craft.
Writers-in-Residence Skills Share Day 2025
Our Annual Skills Share Day is a chance for our writers to come together, undertake peer to peer training and hear our plans for the year ahead. On Tuesday 9th September, we welcomed First Story writers from East Midlands, London, the North West and Yorkshire to our 2025 event at our office in London. Writers who are …
Folio Academy Mentorships Showcase 2025
On Saturday 5 July, we celebrated the achievements of the 2024/25 Folio Academy Mentorship recipients at a showcase event hosted by the London Library. This was the eighth year of First Story’s partnership with Folio Academy and The Writers’ Prize, enabling us to offer year-long one-to-one creative writing mentoring to four First Story alumni dedicated …
London Connect 2025
In early July, First Story young writers from across London gathered at the University of Greenwich for our annual London Connect. Students from Aylward Academy, Commerce House, St Paul’s Way School and Thomas Tallis School joined us for a day of creative writing workshops at the historic Old Royal Naval College. A Creative Welcome First …
Time Travel, Crime, and Creativity: An afternoon with Elly Griffiths at Bromley House Library
This July, the historic Bromley House Library in Nottingham opened its doors to a group of young writers from The Bulwell Academy for a unique creative writing workshop. Led by acclaimed crime novelist Elly Griffiths, the event brought together ten students from the school’s First Story group for an afternoon of inspiration, imagination, and lots …
Facilitate
Feedback from participants The programme blew me away – I learned so much, both from the facilitators and the other participants, and reframing facilitation as a ‘part of creative practice’ rather than something at the edges was nourishing and inspiring. The course has coincided with my first role as a facilitator in a school and …
Tiny Poems Competition Winners 2024/25
We’re excited to announce the winners of our first ever Tiny Poems Competition – for poems of five lines or fewer. Participation was high, with 231 young writers taking part. This year’s judges were Jay Bhadricha, First Story alumni and Head of Programmes at Forward Arts Foundation; John McAuliffe, Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester; and Leeds-based …
First Story Presents: London Voice
A creative-writing podcast that puts students’ voices and experiences at the forefront. Helping young people navigate and express their views around the continually changing sociopolitical landscape has never been more important. Since the pandemic, schools have been faced with a widening attainment gap and an alarming increase in students reporting mental health issues. London Voice …
London Voice Connect at UCL East
By Professor Teresa Cremin, the Open University What a fascinating morning I spent yesterday at First Story’s London Voice Connect! Mainly KS3 students attended from five London schools who’ve been part of the 16 week extracurricular writing sessions led by First Story in their schools this year. Funded by the The Mercers’ Company , this …
Young Writers Festival North Highlights 2025
On 3 June 2025, First Story participants from Bradford, Manchester and Rochdale came together at Manchester Metropolitan University, to take part in our first ever Young Writers Festival North. Hosted by First Story writer David Scott, the day spread creativity, inspiration and warmth throughout the Grosvenor East Building in the heart of Manchester’s university district. …
Winners of the 2025 Philip Pyke Memorial Prize announced
Open to writers of poetry and prose who have completed our Young Writers Programme, the Prize is awarded in memory of Philip Pyke to support young writers as they continue their writing journey. Winners receive prestigious tutoring by acclaimed Arvon authors. You can read the winning pieces by clicking on the title. First Prize Lewis …
Co-op Academy Grange visit The People Powered Press
To celebrate Bradford 2025, the current UK City of Culture, in a truly creative way, First Story Partner School Co-op Academy Grange teamed up with The People Powered Press – a letterpress and arts workshop based in Saltaire, home to the world’s largest printing press of its kind! Under the guidance of poet Antony Dunn …
Young Writers Festival North
We’re excited to be holding our first Young Writers Festival North in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University this summer. In celebration of the inaugural year, current partner schools in the North West, East Midlands and Yorkshire are being offered free tickets for up to 25 students. HEADLINED BY AWARD WINNING MANCHESTER WRITER AND FORMER FIRST …
100 Word Story Competition Winners 2024/25
This year’s 100 Word Story Competition again demonstrated the talent amongst our young writers. 351 students from First Story partner schools wrote brilliant stories, taking on the challenge of writing a compelling narrative in only 100 words. Judged by a panel from Vintage Books, the stories were an impressive mix of theme and subject. We are …
Young Creatives Collective
The Young Creatives Collective is an exciting part of First Story’s new Young Creatives Programme, which will nurture progression opportunities for people interested in writing and other creative careers. Members of the Collective will develop, lead and deliver a project that amplifies the voices of young people and platforms their work to the wider creative …
Your Voice
An intensive KS3 programme to boost confidence and language skills in writing, discussion and sharing. Led by a professional writer, three in-school workshops will encourage students to experiment with language and style to give their writing nuance and impact, the confidence to use their own voice and share their work. Workshops offer students the help …
First Story Young Creatives
First Story is delighted to have secured funding to deliver a new Young Creatives Programme over the next three years. This is an exciting opportunity for us to develop new progression routes for our growing alumni network, leading on from our highly successful Young Writers Programme. We’re delighted to be able to respond to what …
Six Word Story Competition Winners 2024/25
Our annual Six Word Story competition is a challenge in concise storytelling. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous six word story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” we ask our young writers to captivate us in just six words – a real skill and testament to their creativity in this flash fiction challenge. Participation was high once again, with 867 …
First Story students appear live on Leeds radio station Chapel FM
First Story students from Co-op Academy Grange in Bradford were invited to read their writing live on Leeds’ Chapel FM on Friday 6 December. Students had prepared pieces for the broadcast, with writer Anthony Dunn, on the theme of recovery – the 2024 theme for Chapel FM’s literature festival ‘Writing on Air’. They also read work …
Sophie Hiscock announced as new CEO of First Story
Sophie Hiscock, currently Director of Communications and Impact at Oxford’s The Story Museum, has been announced as the new Chief Executive of First Story and will take over from Antonia Byatt who has led the education and creative writing charity since 2019. Sophie will join First Story in February 2025. Sophie has over 30 years’ experience …
First Story’s response to the Curriculum Review
Last week First Story submitted a response to the Government’s curriculum review. We welcome the chance to respond and wanted to share what we said. Enrichment programmes like First Story’s Young Writers Programme are currently not in the scope of the review, yet they are crucial for so many underserved young people who do not …
First Story Alumni Event at the London Library
We invited First Story Alumni to an in-person event at The London Library on 8 November. It was a chance for those who’d taken part in the Young Writers Programme to meet each other, and us, and take part in a Q&A and writing workshop with acclaimed author Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Alumni travelled from across London, Hertfordshire and Derby …
Fair Education Alliance Youth Summit 2024
By Tilly Wiggins, First Story Alumnus The 2024 Fair Education Youth Summit took place on Tuesday 29 October and brought together 200 young people passionate about reducing inequalities in education. Its intention is to empower young people, champion change and to enable learning from one another in a youth lead space. Alumnus Tilly Wiggins attended on …
Announcing: Folio Academy Mentorships 2024/25
In its sixth year, the Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships scheme pairs six talented First Story alumni with acclaimed writers from the Folio Academy, receiving a year of 1:1 mentoring support to further develop their writing craft.
