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 creative activities and talks, the event shared a love of language and creative writing with everyone attending.
The evening event brought together writers working with both organisations to share their experience. In the beautiful setting of The Portico Library, the writers facilitated rapid writing practice with attendees including teachers, librarians and young writers.
Writers passed on exercises that had previously been shared with them and provided inspiration for their own careers. Ben Mellor organised a random metaphor generator, with James Varney delivering an imaginative wordplay exercise and Henna Ravjibhai providing freewriting prompts inspired by some of her favourite writers’ phrases. Each activity offered a route out of cognitive blocks to release fresh creative potential and share a taste of the creative writing approaches of both organisations.
The event provided a welcome opportunity to hear Ben perform On Paper, from his first published collection The Light Made Solid (2010).
It was an inspiration to hear from the three writers, each at different stages of their own careers and journeys, about the encouragement and opportunities that First Story offered. From Henna’s account of taking part in the Young Writers Programme and Young Writers Festival to Ben’s experience of being a writer-in-residence, all speakers discussed the value of being part of the supportive communities offered by First Story and The Writing Squad.
To find out more about First Story’s work in Greater Manchester, please contact our Programme & Partnerships Manager, Claire Sharples.
Summer residential 2022 highlights
