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 …
News
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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) …
BBC Radio 1 Life Hacks with Chloe Holland
Chloe Holland took part in First Story's intensive creative writing programme during 2016-17, as a student at Appleton Academy in Bradford. Diagnosed with severe dyslexia and also dyspraxia, Chloe …
Supporter reception at Hachette UK
On 18th November 2019, publishers Hachette UK generously hosted a reception for First Story supporters at their London HQ, Carmelite House — an iconic building on London's Victoria Embankment, …
On being a Writer-in-Residence
This is the transcript of a speech given by Rachel Seiffert during an event for First Story supporters at Hachette UK on 19 November 2019. …
Six Word Story 2019 shortlist and winner announced
It's been another great year for our Six Word Story competition. With the sheer variety and ingenuity on offer, shortlisting this year was tough. Somehow we settled on our top 12, before handing over …
Our impact in 2018-19
We’ve published our annual Impact Report for the year ending June 2019. I joined First Story as Chief Executive at the end of the academic year, but I'm no less proud of all that was achieved in …
