• What We Do
  • About Us
  • Ways to Support
  • Blog
  • Bookshop
  • Hub login
  • Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

First Story

Changing lives through writing

  • What We Do
  • About Us
  • Ways to Support
  • Blog
  • Bookshop
  • Hub login

WATCH: Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships 2019/20 Showcase

27 November 2020 //  by First Story

Now in its fourth year, our exclusive partnership with the Rathbones Folio Prize offers a unique opportunity for five talented First Story alumni to be mentored for an academic year by five acclaimed Folio Academy writers. 2019/20’s cohort of mentees completed the programme over the summer. Pre-COVID, we would have celebrated their achievement with live readings at the British Library. This year, the celebration necessarily moved online. We’re delighted finally to share some clips from July’s event.


Weronika Baranowski

Weronika, who was mentored by Nikesh Shukla and who now intends to study creative writing at university, kicked-off the showcase by reading an extract from her novel in progress.

Maria Clarke

Maria, who was introduced by her mentor Adam Foulds as “abundantly creative” and someone who has “that rare, unteachable thing: a sense of being at home in the language”, read a passage from her novel in progress, The Blood Children.

Naomi Dairo

Mentor Alice Jolly paid tribute to all the mentees for keeping going during an extraordinarily difficult period of lockdown. Introducing her mentee, she praised Naomi for writing on a range of subjects with “great rhythm and liveliness”, demonstrated in the powerful poem, ‘I Wonder’, which Naomi read.

Nidaa Raoof

Nidaa shared a story sequence called the Story of the Seven Apocalypses, inspired by her concerns for climate change, as well as a poem in tribute to her mother, and another confronting racism. Nidaa was mentored by Lucy Caldwell, who gave credit to Nidaa’s “strikingly bold, deeply felt and intensely passionate” writing.

Mariamah Davey

Finally, Mariamah shared an extract from a work-in-progress that her mentor, Sharlene Teo, described as “a strikingly imaginative, textural world with a love story at its heart.”

Q&A Session

This year’s virtual event concluded with a Q&A between the mentors and mentees, in which they talked about the most challenging parts of the writing journey, about the value of mentoring, and about creative-writing teaching in schools. The professional writers also shared some of their top tips, which included: “Just go for it when sharing your work’ — that’s one that all at First Story whole-heartedly agree with!

Category: Alumni, News, PartnershipsTag: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

BACK TO BLOG
Previous Post: «Anthony Cartwright at Festival ‘First Story is a project of hope’
Next Post: Kate Clanchy supports our CPD provision for teachers »

Above Footer

Get our monthly newsletter

Footer

Quick Links

  • Young Writers Programme
  • Published Anthologies
  • Connect Events
  • Summer Residential
  • Support for Teachers
  • National Writing Day
  • Read our Students’ Writing
  • Young Writers Festival
  • Pedagogy and Approach
  • Outcomes and Impact
  • Lives Changed
  • Schools Map
  • Expression of Interest Form
  • Schools Hub
  • IP Consent Form
  • Staff and Trustees
  • Vacancies

Follow

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Search

Contact

While our office remains closed, we may not access post. Please contact us by email.

info@firststory.org.uk

020 7481 7777

First Story
44 Webber Street
London
SE1 8QW

Site Footer

© First Story Ltd. All rights reserved | Registered Charity No: 1122939 | Company No: 06487410 | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions

Copyright © 2021 · Mai Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in