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First Story

We’re England’s leading creative writing charity for young people.

Our talented professional writers equip students in under-served communities with the confidence and skills to tell their own stories. First Story brings talented, professional writers into secondary schools serving low-income communities to work with teachers and students to foster creativity and communication skills. By helping students find their voices through intensive, fun programmes, First Story raises aspirations and gives students the skills and confidence to achieve them.

06/10/2026

There’s one month left to submit to Inkling, the zine produced by our Young Creatives Collective.

Young writers aged 11-25 who attend a First Story school or who are FS alumni are invited to submit prose, poetry, essay, short script, photography or visual art on the theme of ‘A Brief Pause’.

Closing date: Monday 2 November.

Submit via link in bio.

05/10/2026

tory’s ✨SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS ✨including • FS Writer Nabeela Ahmed and Young Creatives Manager Rose at BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Salford.
• FS Writer Dean Atta launched his first adult novel Big Man.
• Zadie Smith speaks at Festival De Las Ideas in Madrid.
• Our Ellen jets off the visit the Discovery Space Shuttle at the James McDonnell Space Hangar
• FS Writer Adisa Stephen-Ezeocha speaks at our Writers Skills Share Day
• Sundown Sessions at Angel Meadow Park, Manchester
• A Street Library in Lagos, Portugal
• Head of Development Ruth enjoys a weekend in San Sebastián
• Comms Manager Annette rocks out to Bon Jovi at Wembley Stadium
• The Grade I listed Dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park, London
• New First Story folders
• Sunsets in Brixton and Ponta de Piedade, Portugal.

02/10/2026

The YCC is back with another prompt and this week it is: 'In The Eye of The Beholder' 👀

We invite you to take on this prompt with an open mind and not be afraid to get carried away. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Submit your work to the zine at the link in bio. The deadline for all submissions is 2nd November ✏️

15/09/2026

For the second edition of the ‘Inkling’ zine, the Young Creatives Collective will be posting a series of prompts to inspire young people across disciplines.

The prompt for this week is: ‘The Space Between Waves’ 🌊

We invite you to take on this prompt with an open mind and have fun with it. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Submit now: https://firststory.org.uk/young-creatives-collective-2026-zine-submissions. The deadline for all submissions is 2nd November ✏️

11/09/2026

🌷🌸 A huge hello from the 2026 Young Creatives Collective!

We have Alisa, Astelina, Chloë, Chowdhury, Daisy, Emma, Lily, Nidaa, Sam, Sarah, Tilly and Yusra who will produce the second issue of the zine Inkling.

Here they show you where it all began. Some of the YCC started First Story way back in 2015 and some joined as recently as this year.

Whether you contribute poetry, photography, non-fiction writing, visual art, script or prose, or just support our social media, you are a part of what makes First Story great. Sharing the love of reading, writing and getting creative 🧑🏻‍🎨📖✍️

Our Young Creatives hope to garner some young minds and their passion for imagination and creativity - so get your submissions in! We can’t wait to see what you have in store for the 2027 zine. Link in bio to submit your work ✨🤍

04/09/2026

Eclipses, programme planning and Scottish adventures: we’ve had a busy month! Check out our team highlights from August.

☀️ The new Young Creatives Collective (YCC) met for their residential in Manchester!
☀️ YCC vision board
☀️ A beautiful sunset in Orkney
☀️ Highland cows 🐂
☀️ The Programmes Team planning for next year
☀️ Trying out the sauna theatre at Edinburgh Fringe
☀️ Pippa enjoyed the eclipse
☀️ Five Leaves Poetry pamphlet launch
☀️ ‘How the Other Half Loves’ at the Old Vic
☀️ Naomi and Mieko Kawakami at Manchester Lit Fest
☀️ Ben repping our Young Writers Festival in Stockholm
☀️ Ellen performing at Buxton Opera House
☀️ Rose at Rose Cottage!
☀️ And the cats who keep everyone going: grumpy Charley, garden Shirley, and Doris taking a well-earned nap on Annette Brook’s planning for next year

01/09/2026

📚 The new school year has started, bringing new beginnings and new opportunities, and we are excited to launch our Young Writers Programme to students across the country!

This academic year, we hope to provide a Welcome Pack to every student starting our Young Writers Programme. The pack will ideally include a notebook, pencil, bookmark and planner for the year. Our students are all from under-resourced communities and the aim of the packs is to create a sense of belonging – a group where they are welcome to exist, find like-minded friends and explore their changing identities. The notebook is particularly important as a space to write freely and share their voice, completely separate from school work.

“When you take away the pressure of exams, reports and grades and allow these young people to explore their innermost thoughts with just a pen and a personalised notebook, you’ll find the pages coming alive with bountiful hopes and dreams, deep reflections and remarkable stories.”
– Miss Dähn, Oracy Lead at

This year we want to support up to 900 young people through our Young Writers Programme – but we need your help. A gift of £8 could provide each student with their own Welcome Pack, supplying the tools they need to make the most out of the programme. Donate from £8 today at the link in our bio, and help a young writer to tell their story ✏️

04/08/2026

Here’s what the team got up to in and out of work this July!

🌸 FS Ambassador Patrice Lawrence was announced as Children’s Laureate 🎉
🌸 Schools across our regions held anthology launches, including this one at .sch with Laurie Bolger
🌸 We completed a mammoth summer clear-out of the office
🌸 Well-earned cake at the Young Writers Residential •𝓘𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓮🦋
🌸 Beautiful Hebden Bridge
🌸 The team did inclusive hiring training with
🌸 London Voice evaluation day drawings
🌸 Allie Esiri, Sir Tim Rice, Harriet Walter and Roger McGough at The London Library summer party
🌸 Rose hosted Courtyard Stories in Huddersfield
🌸 Ellen performed at the National Poetry Collectives Showcase
🌸 We launched our new film, Everybody Has a Voice - watch it now on YouTube!
🌸 Tracey Emin exhibition Tate
🌸 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
🌸 The team went to lots of gigs including MCR, Alanis Morissette, Nick Cave and David Byrne
🌸 And of course, our pet round-up: a World Cup winning dog, a special birthday and Pebble ruling the roost 🐱

21/07/2026

This week, 16 young writers from across First Story’s regions have travelled to Lumb Bank centre in stunning rural West Yorkshire for our Young Writers Residential.

We’re looking forward to a wonderful week of creativity and discovery, led by tutors Maria Ferguson () and ✏️

06/07/2026

It was a long, hot month and the team were busy as ever! Check out some of our highlights from June:

✒️ Doris the Cat took a break from the heatwave
✒️ We went on BBC Radio London with FS student Menekşe!
✒️ Annette and alum Sarah attended the launch of the New Room at The London Library
✒️ Congratulations to Jessie from Co-op Academy Manchester, who was a winner in the Sadie Massey Awards The Portico Library
✒️ Ellen saw Harry Styles at Wembley 🪩
✒️ Book bundles for our Folio mentees
✒️ Our CEO Sophie with Elif Shafak and FS Ambassador Tracy Chevalier at Royal Society of Literature Summer Party
✒️ David Hockney Sunley Window in Margate
✒️ Rose performed at Annual Diversion Festival in Northwich
✒️ Touring the beautiful Chetham's Library
✒️ World Cup sweepstakes
✒️ Repping the pink hi vis at UCL East!
✒️ Goldsmiths Connect Event with
✒️ And finally, Syd soaked up the sun in Caernarfon

Address

44 Webber Street, South Bank
London
SE18QW

Website

http://www.firststory.org.uk/

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