This is the fourth year of our partnership with the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize, through which four talented First Story students benefit from working one-to-one with an acclaimed writer from …
Summer 2020 Virtual Residential
Our annual summer residential programme provides an incredible opportunity for a small number of First Story participants who've shown great promise during the academic year, to further develop their …
Post-pandemic, how could literacy education change?
First Story recently teamed up with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), Drivers Youth Trust (DYT), and the Fair Education Alliance (FEA), to organise a virtual roundtable discussion …
First Story writers create new BHM resources
In preparation to celebrate Black History Month this October, we recently commissioned three Black writers in our network to produce original creative writing resources exploring key themes, for use …
Saint Gabriel’s College ’20:20 Vision’ anthology launch
Earlier this month, we were invited to St. Gabriel's College in South London, for a special socially-distanced event to celebrate publication of their new First Story anthology, 20:20 Vision. After …
Creative Writing and Social and Emotional Learning
After reading the National Literacy Trust's tenth annual literacy survey, published earlier this month, First Story's programme manager for the East Midlands, Jess Tickell, reflects on the …
National Writing Day 2020 #247Challenge Highlights
The fourth annual National Writing Day took place on 24 June 2020. In the context of a global pandemic, activities necessarily shifted online. We framed the day around a mass participation creative …
Rathbones Folio Mentorships 2020-21 Open
Applications are open now for the 2020/21 Rathbones Folio Mentorships programme beginning this September.Our exclusive partnership with the Rathbones Folio Prize offers a unique opportunity for …
National Writing Day Instagram takeover!
In the week leading up to this year's National Writing Day on 24 June, we invited two former First Story students from West Yorkshire, Henna Ravjibhai (17) and Sophie Crabtree (19), to take over our …
First Story partnership with Unislam
For the past year, First Story has been working in partnership with Unislam, the National Slam Poetry Festival, to place its artists as 'shadow writers' in First Story schools. Jess Tickell caught up …
Writing From Home
National Writing Day 2020 takes place on 24 June. With most young people at home due to the pandemic, this year's programme is being delivered digitally. Our NWD 2020 resource bank includes nine, …
National Writing Day Ambassadors Announced
National Writing Day is our annual mass celebration of the pleasure and power of creative writing, driven by a coalition of leading literacy organisations and publishers, led by First Story. Now in …
School closures have highlighted the gulfs in inequality between young people
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, more than ever, that there are fundamental problems with the parity of access to education in the UK. Our CEO, Antonia Byatt, writes about how the gap has become …
Announcing the 100-Word Story Competition 2019/20 winners
It’s been another brilliant year for our 100-Word Story competition. Our fabulous judges over at Vintage books have picked their top three favourite entries from those submitted from across the …
Covid-19 Update
With current government advice in mind, First Story's Chief Executive, Antonia Byatt, responds to the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19.As schools close this week, I wanted to update …
Hull College students’ response to 21st century pressures: We Are Strong
Last month, an inspiring group of young women from Hull College staged an event to launch their new First Story group anthology, for which they chose the title We Are Strong, and in which they have …
Regional Writing Stars – Autumn term
This autumn, First Story ran a fun new bi-annual competition called Regional Writing Stars. This competition is designed to highlight regional voices and provides us – the team at First Story, across …
A good education for all: First Story and the Ofsted inspection framework
Last month, Ofsted published its Annual Report for 2018/19, the year it introduced its new education inspection framework and sparked fresh debate about what works best to tackle disadvantage. Is a …
Watch: Six Word Story 2019 finalists showcase
In December, we piloted an exciting new platform to showcase and celebrate the shortlisted young writers in our annual Six Word Story competition. For the first time, 12 finalists saw their stories …
How our writers and teachers support each other
We're committed to providing regular forums for our writers and teachers to share knowledge, skills and practical experience. Over the last couple of weeks, teachers and writers have been getting …
We’ve created an LGBT+ training resource
February is LGBT+ History Month. In honour of this year's theme — ‘Poetry, Prose and Plays’ — we’ve released a dedicated training resource for First Story Writers-in-Residence. We're delighted to be …
YWF19 Highlights
First Story’s Young Writers’ Festival in 2019 was yet again a packed event that saw over 330 students, more than 30 teachers, 24 volunteers, and 18 Writers-in-Residence from around the country …
First Story alumna featured in Rathbones Review
Henna Ravjibhai took part in the Rathbones Folio Prize Mentorships scheme in 2019. She has recently been featured in the Rathbones review to talk First Story, working with Joe Dunthorne, and writing …
BBC Young Writers’ Award 2020 Launches
It’s that time of year once more: the BBC Young Writers’ Award is now open! We're encouraging young writers, aged 13–18, from across the country to submit your best short stories (up to 1,000 words) …
