First Story
Encyclopedia
First Story is a literary charity. It was founded in 2007 by Katie Waldegrave and the writer William Fiennes
to improve literacy and foster creativity in young people through creative writing. The organisation focuses on “challenging” state schools, and from September 2010, they will be running twenty-three residencies in schools in London, Oxford and Nottingham.
At the end of the workshops, First Story publishes a professionally produced anthology for each school, and the schools host book-launch events at which the students read their stories aloud to friends, families and teachers.
In addition, they encourage schools to continue their publications independently of First Story and provide resources to help students and teachers build ‘writing schools’.
They are aspiring to develop First Story hubs in strategic locations across the country, which will ensure that every secondary school student has access to the creative provision to which First Story believes he/she is entitled.
William Fiennes (author)
William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
to improve literacy and foster creativity in young people through creative writing. The organisation focuses on “challenging” state schools, and from September 2010, they will be running twenty-three residencies in schools in London, Oxford and Nottingham.
Activities
First Story supports and inspires creativity, literacy and talent in UK schools and their communities. They arrange and pay for acclaimed authors to run creative writing workshops for students in ‘challenging’ secondary schools across the country. Each author leads weekly after-school creative-writing workshops for up to sixteen students.At the end of the workshops, First Story publishes a professionally produced anthology for each school, and the schools host book-launch events at which the students read their stories aloud to friends, families and teachers.
In addition, they encourage schools to continue their publications independently of First Story and provide resources to help students and teachers build ‘writing schools’.
They are aspiring to develop First Story hubs in strategic locations across the country, which will ensure that every secondary school student has access to the creative provision to which First Story believes he/she is entitled.
Writers
- Diran AdebayoDiran AdebayoDiran Adebayo is a British novelist, cultural critic and broadcaster best known for his vivid portrayals of modern London life and his distinctive use of language.-Education and career:...
- Raffaella BarkerRaffaella BarkerRaffaella Barker is an English author. She lives in Norfolk, England with her family. She is the daughter of the poet George Barker and the novelist Elspeth Barker.-Publications:*"Poppyland" , ISBN 0-7553-2412-9...
- Clare Brown
- Roland Chambers
- Kate ClanchyKate Clanchy-Life:She was educated in Edinburgh and Oxford University. She lived in London's East End for several years, before moving to Oxfordshire where she now works as a teacher, journalist and freelance writer....
- Helen CrossHelen CrossHelen Cross is an English author. She was raised in East Yorkshire and educated at the University of East Anglia.Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award in 2002. It was made into an acclaimed film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and...
- Laura DockrillLaura DockrillLaura Dockrill is an English performance poet, illustrator and short story writer. Dockrill was born and grew up in Brixton, and attended The Brit School of Performing Arts in Croydon, where she was friends with singer Kate Nash...
- Ben Faccini
- Kevin Feegan
- William FiennesWilliam Fiennes (author)William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
- Aminatta FornaAminatta FornaAminatta Forna is a British writer of Sierra Leonean and Scottish heritage. She is the author of a memoir, The Devil that Danced on the Water and two novels, Ancestor Stones and The Memory of Love...
- Salena GoddenSalena GoddenSalena Godden is a British poet, performer and writer living in North London. Her stories and poetry have appeared in Dazed & Confused, Salzburg Review, Le Gun, Penguin's IC3, Canongate's Fire People, Serpents Tail's Croatian Nights and Hodder & Stoughton's Oral. Godden records and performs in the...
- Romesh GunesekeraRomesh GunesekeraRomesh Gunesekera FRSL is a British author with a Sri Lankan background.-Life and work:Born in Colombo in 1954, Romesh Gunesekera explores aspects of his native island.He grew up in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, moving to England in 1971...
- Julie Hearn
- Peter Hobbs
- Hisham MatarHisham MatarHisham Matar is a Libyan author. His debut novel In the Country of Men was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Matar’s essays have appeared in the Asharq Alawsat, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The New York Times. His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published on...
- Jon McGregorJon mcgregorJon McGregor is a British author who has written three novels; If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which was nominated for the 2002 Booker Prize, winner of the Betty Trask Prize and winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 2003, and So Many Ways to Begin, which was published in 2006 and also...
- Jean McNeilJean McNeilJean McNeil is a Canadian fiction and travel author.Born in New Brunswick, she grew up on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. She is currently a writer-in-residence for the charity First Story...
- Nicola MonaghanNicola MonaghanNicola Monaghan is an English novelist and author of The Killing Jar, Starfishing and The Okinawa Dragon.Monaghan was listed in The Independent’s New Year 2006 list of rising talent, and won a Betty Trask Award, the Author's Club Best First Novel Prize and the Waverton Good Read Award for her debut...
- Courttia NewlandCourttia NewlandCourttia Newland is a British writer of Jamaican and Bajan heritage.-Background:Newland grew up in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where he became a rapper and music producer who, together with friends, released a Drum n' Bass white label. In 1997 he published his first novel, The Scholar. Further...
- Nii Ayikwei Parkes
- Tim PearsTim PearsTim Pears is an English novelist. His novels explore social issues as they are processed through the dynamics of family relationships.- Biography :...
- Marie PhillipsMarie PhillipsMarie Phillips is a British writer. Her novel Gods Behaving Badly, a comic fantasy concerning ancient Greek gods living in modern-day Hampstead, was first published in the United Kingdom in 2007, later becoming a bestseller in Canada....
- Ross RaisinRoss RaisinRoss Raisin is a British novelist. He was born in Keighley in Yorkshire, and after attending Bradford Grammar School he studied English at King's College London, which was followed by a period as a trainee wine bar manager and a postgraduate degree in creative writing at Goldsmith's...
- Helen SimpsonHelen Simpson (author)Helen Simpson is an English novelist and short story writer. She was born in 1959 in Bristol, in the West of England, and went to a girls' school. She worked at Vogue for five years before her success in writing short stories meant she could afford to leave and concentrate full-time on her writing...
- William SutcliffeWilliam SutcliffeWilliam Sutcliffe is a British novelist.An alumnus of Haberdashers' Aske's School, Sutcliffe started his career with a novel about school life entitled New Boy , which was followed by his best-known work so far, Are You Experienced? , a pre-university gap year novel, in which a group of young...
- Matt ThorneMatt ThorneMatt Thorne is an English writer born in 1974 who has published seven novels. Thorne grew up in Bristol, England, and was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University. Thorne's first book, Tourist, was published in 1998. The book is an attack on the negative effects of tourism on...
- Betsy Tobin
- Frances Wilson
- Louisa Young
Executive Team
- Executive Director: Katie Waldegrave
- Founding Director: William FiennesWilliam Fiennes (author)William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
- National Director: Mónica Parle
- Fundraising Officer: Kirstie Miller
- Bookkeeper: Nikki Rossner
Board of trustees
- Beth Colocci (Curator)
- William FiennesWilliam Fiennes (author)William Fiennes is a British author.Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees...
(Writer) - Charlotte Hogg (Managing Director, Experian UK and Ireland)
- Rob Ind (Head of English, Cranford Community College)
- Andrea Minton Beddoes (Director of Communications, McKinsey)
- John Rendel (CEO, Promoting Equality in African SchoolsPromoting Equality in African SchoolsPromoting Equality in African Schools is a UK-based charity that builds and develops low fee secondary schools in Uganda, and soon also in Zambia.-Overview:In 1997, Uganda launched free universal primary education to all children...
) - Alastair Ruxton (Senior Lawyer, London 2012)
- David Stephens (Consultant)
- Anna Trichkine (Student Representative)
- James Wood (CEO, Data Transparency)
Advisory board
- Lord Adonis - Director of The Institute for Government
- Julian BarnesJulian BarnesJulian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer, and winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, for his book The Sense of an Ending...
- Writer - Jamie Byng - Publisher, CanongateCanongateThe Canongate is a small district at the heart of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.The name derives from the main street running through the area: called Canongate without the definite article, "the". Canongate forms the lower, eastern half of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's historic Old Town....
- Alex Clark - Editor, GrantaGrantaGranta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
- Julia Cleverdon - CEO, Business in the Community
- Andrew Cowan - Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, UEAUniversity of East AngliaThe University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
- Jonathan DimblebyJonathan DimblebyJonathan Dimbleby is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, a political commentator and a writer. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of British TV presenter David Dimbleby.-Education:Dimbleby was educated at Charterhouse School, a...
- Writer and Broadcaster - Mark HaddonMark HaddonMark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...
- Writer - Josephine HartJosephine HartJosephine Hart, Lady Saatchi was an Irish-born British writer, theatrical producer and television presenter...
- Writer and Presenter - Simon JenkinsSimon JenkinsSir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...
- Writer - Andrew Kidd - Literary Agent, Aitken Alexander Associates
- Rona Kiley - CEO Academy Sponsors Trust
- Chris PattenChris PattenChristopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....
- Chancellor, The University of Oxford - Kevin Prunty - Headteacher
- Deborah Rogers - Literary Agent
- Zadie SmithZadie SmithZadie Smith is a British novelist. To date she has written three novels. In 2003, she was included on Granta's list of 20 best young authors...
- Writer - Alicia Stubbersfield - Writer and Teacher
- William WaldegraveWilliam WaldegraveWilliam Waldegrave may refer to:* William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock , admiral* William Waldegrave, 8th Earl Waldegrave , vice-admiral* William Waldegrave, 9th Earl Waldegrave , politician...
- Chairman, Science MuseumScience museumA science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of... - Brett Wigdortz - CEO, Teach FirstTeach FirstTeach First is an independent educational charity United Kingdom, Reg. No. 1098294, founded in 2002. Its mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields...
First Story in the Press
- Director William Fiennes, and First Story writers Salena Godden, Kate Clanchy and Jon McGregor talk about First Story in The Independent.
- Tim Pears writes about his experiences as First Story Writer-in-Residence in The Guardian
- Frances Wilson writes about First Story in the Sunday Times
- Irena Barker writes about First Story in the TES
- John Humphreys hears about First Story on the Today Programme
- Alex Clark writes about First Story in the Daily Telegraph
- Sean Dodson writes about First Story in The Guardian