Ravena completed the First Story Young Writers Programme at Wembley High Technology College in 2013 with Writer-in-Residence Peter Hobbs. Having earned two degrees, in biochemistry and law Ravena is now a celebrated young adult fiction author, with three titles published by Faber & Faber.
Her book The Thief of Farrowfell was shortlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme. Ravena gave a keynote speech at First Story’s Young Writers Festival 2024 – she had previously attended the festival (then at Oxford University) as a participant.
When I took part in the Young Writers Programme in 2013, going to the Young Writer’s Festival was a big highlight. Spending the whole day out of school doing writing workshops at Oxford University and getting to meet authors I admired was really special. I’d never had an opportunity like that before and I knew how lucky I was. Another highlight was getting the chance to read my work out in front of Peter Hobbs during the writing workshops – I struggled a lot with my confidence in school but those workshops were a safe space where I was taken seriously as a writer.
I did a biochemistry degree at university, but had the chance to take a module which was non-science related and picked creative writing. First Story was hugely foundational for me – it built my confidence and felt like my first step of writing experience. Without it, I’m not sure if I would have picked that creative writing module to continue developing my craft.
Even doing First Story, I never seriously thought I could be a published author – it felt like a far off dream, not something that could be reality. That actually only changed when I got an offer for my first book! Looking back now, however, I can really appreciate how lucky I was to go into a room week in, week out, and get to be creative, and have that creative work taken seriously. All the people at First Story work so hard to create this programme to essentially empower students who, like me, don’t necessarily think the publishing world is somewhere they’ll ever really belong. That building block of being told “it’s okay to take writing seriously, no matter who you are” is so incredibly important, and it’s only now I can see how much having the opportunity to do First Story meant to me.
Ravena Guron, shared her top writing tips with Festival attendees at Downing College Cambridge in March 2024. She opened her speech with…
It feels incredibly special to be here with you all today, because I vividly remember sitting where you’re all sat about ten or so years ago, at this very same festival, listening to an author do this same speech. I had just completed the first story experience, and I was in Year 12 doing my A-levels. I went on to do a biochemistry degree, and then I sort of pivoted, and became a city lawyer, and I worked on high profile deals. It was all a very intense, challenging and exciting environment. But then I thought about what I really loved doing – being creative – and I now work as a television lawyer on reality TV shows, and I work with production to help stories get to screen. It’s a career I never even knew existed, but there are so many opportunities out there and I’m very very lucky to get to do what I do.
Ravena’s festival speech included her 3 top tips for aspiring young writers:-
1. Read widely – the more you read, the more you discern what you like and don’t like, the more you’ll create stories that are important to you – the stories you wish you could have read.
2. Publishing is a career where lots of people will tell you “no” – if you want to publish a book, there will be agents who tell you “no”, there will be publishers who tell you “no”, there will be a lot of rejection, and it won’t ever really end. But don’t let yourself be the person telling you “no” – don’t ever self-reject, because you think an opportunity is not for you. There are so many times I almost talked myself out of doing something – I almost didn’t approach my now agent, because I never thought she would want to take me on. I almost didn’t apply to a competition that got me on the radar of one of my publishers because I thought there was no way I would ever come close to winning. Please grasp every opportunity that comes your way – I promise, they’re for you.
3. Look back on your time in First Story as fondly as I do – treasure those short stories you wrote, and treasure your anthology – that’s your name, in black and white, with your words, because you’re all brilliant writers and I can’t wait to hear about what you go on to do.
