Wednesday 29^th 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.

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.

• 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.

Aminatta Forna was recently awarded the Commonwealth Prize and shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 for her novel The Memory of Love. In 2003 The Devil that Danced on the Water was runner-up for Britain’s most prestigious non-fiction award, the Samuel Johnson Prize. The book was serialised on BBC Radio, also in The Sunday Times newspaper, and selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers series. The Devil that Danced on the Water became a Times newspaper Book Club book. Ancestor Stones was a New York Times Editor’s Choice book and selected by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2006. In 2007 she was named by Vanity Fair as one of Africa’s most promising new writers and her work has been translated into nine languages. Aminatta is a former First Story writer-in-residence.

P. D. James was born in Oxford in 1920 and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. All that experience has been used in her novels. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of the Arts and has served as a Governor of the BBC, a member of the Arts Council, where she was Chairman of its Literary Advisory Panel, on the Board of the British Council and as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. She has won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award. She has received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors. She lives in London and Oxford and has two daughters, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

With thanks to the First Story Events Committee: Beth Colocci, Jules Flory, Susannah Herbert, Nicole Lanitis, Helen Polito, Laurel Rafter, Alison Seaton, Constance Slaughter and Caroline Waldegrave.

For more information, please contact us at info@firststory.org.uk.

10^th – 26^th February, Southbank Centre

Imagine Festival – celebrating literature, music, comedy and performance for the young 

Friday 17^th – Wednesday 22^nd February 

‘The Trial of Dennis the Menace’ Calling all Beano-lovers! Join First Story writer-in-residence Caroline Bird for an hour of music, words and action in this exciting adaptation of the Beano series. Tickets

Friday 17^th February 

Dockrill’s Dahl’s Delights. Daring, gruesome and hilarious, create your own ‘revolting rhymes’ with First Story writer-in-residence Laura Dockrill as she shares her favourite Roald Dahl poems. Tickets

Sunday 19^th February

From Pip to Potter, celebrating the place of children in care in literature. Join First Story writers-in-residence Lemn Sissay and Caroline Bird discuss how children who are living away from home have become some of our best loved literary characters. From Peter Pan to Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. A panel discusses our cared for heroes in the context of a system where children in care experience stigma. Tickets

Thursday 9th February 2012

On a particularly snow evening on Thursday 9^th February, First Story’s first Nottingham fundraiser got off to a fantastic start with the legendary William Ivory. Ivory is one of Britain’s leading screen writers with credits such as Made in Dagenham, The Sins, Common as Muck and the adaptation of D.H Lawrence’s Women in Love.

In conversation with First Story’s writer-in-residence Amanda Whittington, the audience were treated to an insight into the life of a successful screen writer. At a young age, a chance meeting with Nottingham writer Alan Sillitoe gave Ivory the hope that, with lashings of ‘hard work’ and ‘determination’, his dream of becoming a writer may, one day, be fulfilled. The authenticity of Ivory’s work is testament to his roots and we were given anecdotes of his childhood in Nottingham and the influence he has drawn from local heroes such as D.H Lawrence. From the teenage angst that saw him locked away in his bedroom and first putting pen to paper to accomplishing a Hollywood screen play, Billy Ivory has achieved quite a feat… well worth the sixty-odd drafts he once claimed to have written.

We hope that this will be the first of many Nottingham events. With special thanks to William Ivory, Yorkshire Bank and Antenna and to everyone that made it despite the weather!

On the 23^rd 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.

Here are a selection of stories written on the day.

Lara Tate, QPCS

I was lying hot and feverish, paralysed in my bed, my body shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly I stopped and lost consciousness and my dream began… I was in bed, feeling serene and emotional but disturbed for I felt like I was being watched. I glanced behind me and saw people whispering about my health, but, looking twice I saw a raven black as anything his beady, hatred filled eyes gazed into mine. I felt unnerved. He was the messenger and guider of death, he sensed my time was at a horrible end and with a horrible shriek death appeared with a scythe in hand and whispered ‘join me’.

Freya Everest, Highgate Wood School

It was dark down the warped burrow, perfect for the scene to commence. Mr Barkly had already wound his way down the grand stairs to find himself wading deeper into the building’s hidden dangers. To any onlooker such a frighteningly large building would have intrigued and enticed, making most people forget the sinister possibilities hidden amongst the walls. However, occasionally you find someone who notices that there is a missing piece from the gigantic puzzle of opportunity and he or she will use that fact very much to their advantage. In this case it was Mr Barkly a man whose mind was a great fit in this quirky outcast of a building. He had never achieved much in his life, but now was his chance. Slowly, he pranced his way round the entangled corridors, hypnotised by the sincerity of the building. He finally reached his destination after a further 15 minutes of wading. Now it was just a long wait for the right moment to attack.

Camiron Gordon, Highgate Wood School

Oblivious of the silhouette darting from shadow to shadow, Sir Bellingham strolls down the cobbled poorly lit path. With each step down this maze of a walkway, the mysterious creature that is following takes two…sensing he is being followed, he tries to lose his stalker by walking through various twists and turns and the occasional servant quarter…all the time knowing this will only buy him a bit more time. The red light on his tweed suit started to beep.

“Finally”, he mutters.

Continuing up the swirling staircase he takes a moment to appreciate the architecture then turns around to look the monstrosity in the eye. Taking one step back and diving over the banister, Sir Bellingham disappears.

“Not another one”, the thing snarls.

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.’

Her Royal Highness was invited to become the charity’s Patron after officially launching First Story in the East Midlands and talking to students in Nottingham about the writing workshops they had attended. Improving literacy is a cause close to the Duchess’s heart; she is Patron of the National Literacy Trust and Booktrust amongst other organisations and First Story is honoured to have her support.

Read the Press Release

Read his fantastic poem “Tired All Day”

Tiredness is an old person,
He goes around saying “I am going to die”
and he’s always slurping soup.
He bites the spoon.

Tiredness is a crafty bastard.
His second name is ‘Yawn.’
He lives in a bungalow.

He’s too old, tired and lazy
to care for a pet. He can barely care for himself.
When Tiredness was young, he looked like a dinosaur.
Now he looks like a Pterodactyl.

He used to sell frogs in a pet shop,
Then he quit that job
Because of boredom and became a drug addict
and an old man.

He had a heart attack.
The hospital tried to save him
But he was already gone.

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’:

Sadness

I took Sadness to a boxing match.
He pushed the door open slowly with one finger
dragging his feet, it sounded like
a snake hissing as it died.

With his face light blue and his clothes faded grey,
his eyes showed that something he’d loved had gone.
Others looked, but ignored him and carried on.
Sadness became sadder, and shrunk a bit.

I sat with him and said ‘you don’t have to be sad
because you still have a friend.’
He started to smile and shine more brightly
and his light blue face had more colour to it
and his clothes beamed brighter too.

When the first match was over
people came and started to talk to him and said
‘We just looked away because the match was on…,’
and Sadness became bright gold and was happy. 

To read the other winners’ poems, click here.

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.

The young writers’ day was opened by Michael Morpurgo and Mark Haddon, ending with encouraging words of advice from Philip Pullman. Throughout the day the budding young writers were offered an infusion of poetry and prose workshops, readings and talks from some of Britain’s best published writers and performers. The sun shone down on Broughton Castle as these young people found their voices and shared their stories with fellow students and writers.

We are happy to share feedback with you from the day:

‘It has been an incredible experience, and I have been so inspired. Now I can’t stop writing at home! Thanks again so so much for giving me the chance to be involved with First Story.’ Rebecca Short, First Story student

‘Many thanks for inviting me to one of the most enjoyable and uplifting events of my career. It was so wonderful to see so many students ENJOYING writing, especially boys. They revelled in the opportunity to write freely and express their fantastic ideas and then perform them to an audience!’ Christine Lawson, English Advisor at Oxford County Council 

‘I had a thoroughly enjoyable day, as did the students; it has started the programme off with a bang!’ Thomas Daly, teacher at Holland Park School

‘The exposure to such high profile authors was stupendous! Students never get opportunities like this.’ Kate Pretsell, teacher at Burlington Danes Academy

‘Thank you so much. Our pupils have been so excited and will never forget today. Many new writers will have been born.’ Tanya Russell, teacher at Nottingham Academy 

‘Thank you for making us feel valued as teachers and reminding us how explosive creative writing can be.’ Christopher Suckling, teacher at Pimlico Academy

With special thanks to Broughton Castle’s keepers Lord and Lady Saye & Sele, the wonderful writers, delicious Banbury Catering, the lovely local independent bookshops selling the tickets, and all the volunteers who made these events possible in support of First Story.

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!