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 …
North of England
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 …
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 …
Young Writers Festival Highlights 2024
On 27 March 2024, nearly 300 First Story participants from across England came together at Downing College, University of Cambridge, to take part in our annual Young Writers Festival. It was a day …
Huddersfield Connect 2023
35 students from three schools took part in our Yorkshire Connect event at the University of Huddersfield in July 2023. Students from Co-op Academy Grange, Titus Salt School and Carlton Keighley …
Folio mentorships 2023 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 15 July our …
School Writing Trail with Manchester City of Literature
Nineteen students from the six local schools who took part in Manchester Connect event in April 2023 featured in Manchester UNESCO City of Literature's first Schools' Writing Trail in June …
Manchester Connect event
Ninety five students from six local schools took part in our first Manchester Connect event in April 2023. In collaboration with the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, …
Young Writers Festival Highlights 2023
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 …
Working with First Story: a librarian’s perspective
Dianne Blashill is the School Librarian at Co-op Academy Grange, and she has worked with First Story as School Lead for the Young Writers Programme for the last six years after several previous years …
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 …
Passing the Parcel at The Portico Library
First Story and The Writing Squad came together to highlight opportunities available for young writers in Greater Manchester in a taster session hosted by The Portico Library. Through a set of …
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 …
Celebrating our very first set of ecopoetry competition winners!
What a year it’s been! A year more turbulent than ever with the effects of a global pandemic creating an acute social, political and economic crisis more pressing than any other in living memory for …
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 …
100-Word Story Competition winners 2021 – What a year!
It’s almost unimaginable to think back to last year’s 100-Word Story Competition, the deadline for which closed just before the first ever lockdown. How things have changed since! How our stories have …
Hull College students’ response to 21st century pressures: We Are Strong
Last month, an inspiring group of young women from Hull College staged an event to launch their new First Story group anthology, for which they chose the title We Are Strong, and in which they have …
