See First Story's work in action. Click here for the First Story film.
We arrange and pay for acclaimed authors to be writers-in-residence in state schools across the country.
We aim to celebrate and foster creativity and literacy in young people. We're cheerleaders for books, stories, reading and writing. We've seen how creative writing can build students' self-esteem and self-confidence.
We help the students publish their work in magazines and anthologies, and arrange "open house" events at which the students can read their stories aloud to friends, families and teachers.
Since September 2009, we have had fourteen residencies under way at schools in London and Oxford.
This has been an absolutely wonderful chance for our students. They are on free school meals, live in tough areas and have really challenging lives. It has been a chance for them to develop a love of language, of writing, to enjoy reading and the process of expressing themselves in a way that is so safe and so freeing. It has enabled them to discover themselves and develop this incredible talent. I am so proud of them and really grateful to be involved in First Story.
Dillena Basra, Head of English, Quintin Kynaston School.
First Story is a very exciting idea. Having been a teacher myself, I know how writing - real writing, not the artificial exercises produced for tests and examinations - can liberate and strengthen young people's sense of themselves as almost nothing else can.
Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials.
