Wednesday 29th February – Premier debating forum Intelligence² is staging a fundraising evening in aid of First Story. The event will see poets, novelists and an actor take to the stage, each with fifteen minutes to make you laugh or cry or both. Join us to hear stories from William Fiennes, Salena Godden, Mark Haddon, Lemn Sissay and Sam West.
In the middle of the evening there will be a brief charity auction with lots ranging from IQ² internships (each lot will be a pair, so that when you buy an internship for someone near and dear to you, another one will be given to a pupil from one of First Story’s schools), to a writer who will come to your house to review your unpublished novel, conduct a creative writing lesson, or lead your book group
The event will take place at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill from 7pm, where the seating is cabaret style so you can enjoy the evening over a glass of wine and a plate of charcuterie. Tickets are £35 each including a glass of wine, and you can book a table for eight.
The First Story Events Committee is pleased to present dates for our forthcoming Literary Lunches:
- Aminatta Forna Tuesday 13th March 2012, noon – 2:30pm, Ognisko Polish Club, 55 Exhibition Road, London Purchase tickets
- P. D. James Tuesday 8th May 2012, noon – 2:30pm, Ognisko Polish Club, 55 Exhibition Road, London Purchase tickets
We are hugely grateful to David Mitchell, Edmund de Waal, John Julius Norwich and Lady Antonia Fraser who have generously given their time and stories to entertain guests at Literary Lunches in London and Oxford. The lunches are in support of First Story’s programme of creative writing workshops for children in challenging social and economic circumstances.
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23rd January 2012
On the 23rd January, a passer-by in the usually noiseless galleries of Somerset House would have been distracted by the audible whirring of a hundred young minds. Creative cogs were going into overdrive as five acclaimed authors used art to ignite the imaginations of these aspiring writers.
This is the second First Story event at Somerset House. The day gathered seven London schools currently participating in the First Story Programme. Students were regrouped and paired with a writer who introduced them to a carefully selected painting which became a fertile platform for a crop of exceptional poems and stories. The variety in the offerings was as impressive as the inventiveness of language. The culmination of the day’s activities was a public reading where students volunteered to share their pieces in front of their classmates, teachers, parents, and First Story supporters.
The confidence and pride in their work exhibited by these readers was a testament to what First Story seeks to achieve: promoting not only a passion for the written word, but also the self-assurance in expression that allows these voices to be heard.
We shall be posting some of the brilliant work here very soon. Oxford students on the First Story programme will take part in a similar exercise at the Pitt Rivers Museum, while Nottingham students will shortly be picking up their pens at the Galleries of Justice.
October 2011
We are delighted to announce that the Duchess of Cornwall has become Patron of First Story.
Katie Waldegrave, Executive Director, First Story, says: ‘It is a great honour to have the Duchess of Cornwall as our Patron. Since we began running our first workshops three years ago, the response from students, teachers and parents has been overwhelmingly positive. With Her Royal Highness’s support, we hope to expand the reach of our activities and help more young people to access the world of books and grow in self-confidence.’
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7th October 2011
Congratulations to Robert Marston, one of the fifteen winners of the The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2011. Eleven-year-old Robert discovered his remarkable talent in First Story workshops with poets Lemn Sissay and Caroline Bird, a two-time winner of the award. He is the youngest winner of this year’s competition which adds to his outstanding achievement.
Read his staggeringly beautiful poem ‘Sadness’:
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22nd-23rd September 2011
We are delighted to report on an awesome inaugural First Story Festival. Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire was enlivened with writers, students and book-lovers for two magical days on 22 and 23 September 2011.
Michael Morpurgo merged fact and fiction as he delved into his childhood and captivated an audience of parents and children on the evening of Thursday 22 September. The following evening David Nicholls related entertaining anecdotes about his fascinating and varied career before becoming a bestselling author.
The proceeds from these two brilliantly enjoyable talks supported a very special day for 500 First Story students on Friday 23 September.
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7th September 2011
First Story would like to say a huge thank you to The Funding Network and the very generous donors who attended TFN’s Special Autumn Event on Tuesday 6th September. They helped to raise an overwhelming £15,413 for First Story.
First Story Founding Director, William Fiennes, joined a host of well-known personalities at the magnificent and newly-refurbished Mansion House, in what was described as ’the friendly Dragon’s Den for charities’. William was given only six minutes to tell around 200 guests about First Story and he was then joined on stage by Katie Waldegrave for another six minutes to answer questions. This was followed by a lively open giving session (so we hear!).
William was in good company; fellow well-known personalities presenting their favourite social change projects included Thomasina Miers, Robin Sheppard, Jonathan Dimbleby and Esther Rantzen.
It was the most superb evening in a breathtaking setting. We can’t thank our donors enough for their generosity – it is far more than we could have ever imagined!
July 2011
A 700 year old house in Somerset was the inspirational location for our third First Story summer residential trip in July. Thirty-two First Story students spent five days writing, under the expert guidance of four experienced First Story writers. No fewer than 300 stories, poems and scripts were scribbled down during the week’s workshops and tutorials. But enough from us; the trip was all about the kids, so it is only right that they share their experiences:
‘It started with a coach ride, and it ended with a coach ride, but no two trips could have been more different. On the journey to Somerset, we sized each other up, identified which volunteers would be the strictest, and envied those who already knew somebody else there. But on the way home, the atmosphere in the coach reflected what kind of week we’d all had - it was alive with jokes, memories and promises to add one another on Facebook. The only upset was the people who had taken a different coach back were already being missed.
‘Why were these two journeys so different? I think I speak for all of us when I say it was because, on the way there, we didn’t know what to expect, but on the way back, we felt that that week was more than we ever could have expected anyway.’
‘I enjoyed everything – making friends, workshops, tutorials, the whole experience.’
‘It was an amazing experience to work with four writers and have feedback on our work from them.’
‘It was a fantastic week and everybody was really friendly and inspirational.’
We’re looking at ways to encourage our students to read more through the First Story programme next year, as the best writers are big readers. To that end, we’re participating in several reading-related projects this year.
First up is the wonderful Give a Book Scheme hosted through Daunt Books. Click on the link here to find out more about the scheme. If you donate money, a First Story student will get a book.
