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Anna Trichkine, Vicky Rabin, Peter Hobbs, Conor Jameson and Fjolla Bunjaku |
Brought to book: Sixth form pupils publish short story anthology
ZADIE Smith and Mark Haddon are among the literary heavy-hitters backing a revolutionary new scheme to get youngsters involved in writing.
This week, pupils from Quintin Kynaston School in St John’s Wood got to emulate their heros by seeing their short stories in print for the first time.
Overseen by teacher Katie Waldgrave, who set up the First Story charity in 2007, the anthology of short stories by 12 sixth form students is the fruit of their creative juices.
Ms Waldgrave set up the charity to “counter the collective ennui among teens”, laden down with exam pressure.
“Creativity gets squeezed out by exam pressure. It is important for students of this age to feel that people value their words and ideas in order for their confidence to develop,” she said.
Award-winning novelist Peter Hobbs best known for The Short Day Dying led the workshops.
He said: “I went into the project not knowing what to expect, but from the first exercise all the kids were bursting with creativity – and everything they wrote was great.”
The First Story project is currently running at eight London schools and will expand next year.
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