Tagged: Children And Young People
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Tired of Being Black? A Child’s-Eye View of Literature
Gabriel Gbadamosi's novel 'Vauxhall' and Colin Grant's memoir 'Bageye at the Wheel' both feature child narrators who act as go-betweens between black and white worlds. In an evening at the Free Word Centre exploring how blackness can be both defining and limiting for authors, Colin, Gabriel and members of the audience spoke to us about the child characters from their favourite books who made an impression on their lives.
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Writers’ Room: Mei Matsuoka on Children’s Books
Writer and illustrator Mei Matsuoka is the author of 'Footprints in the Snow' and many other books for children. She's also a tutor on Arvon's 'Writing for Children' course. We spoke to her about the unique challenges of writing for a young audience, the differences between English and Japanese storytelling, and why people are wrong to think degrees in the arts "are a cop-out".
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The Olympics, My Grandmothers and Me
Our Politics & Olympics season from the summer featured contributions from, among others, young Hackney resident Joe Mason. As our memories of the Games fade into the past, Joe speaks to his grandmothers about their experiences of the London Olympics from 1948, and contrasts their stories to what we've seen of London 2012.
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Audio: Learning and Writing with Dyslexia
Sally Gardner was branded 'unteachable' at school because of her acute dyslexia. Today, she's a successful children's novelist. In this interview with The Times' children's book critic, Amanda Craig, and Booktrust’s books and disability consultant, Alexandra Strick, Sally discusses being a writer with dyslexia, and her personal experiences of how the condition is dealt with by the education system.
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Audio: Sally Gardner on Maggot Moon
As part of Dyslexia Awareness Week, Children's novelist Sally Gardner came to Free Word to discuss her new book "Maggot Moon", published by Hot Key Books. The book's protagonist, Standish Treadwell, has dyslexia, and it's through his unique way of seeing the world that the book tells the gripping story of a dystopian society called the Motherland, where anyone who's seen to be different, especially among children, is swiftly eradicated. Joined by The Times' children's books critic, Amanda Craig, and Booktrust's books and disability consultant, Alexandra Strick, Sally reads from her new book, and discusses how her own personal experiences of dyslexia influenced its development.
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Writing Dyslexia: Sally Gardner on ‘Maggot Moon’
Sally Gardner was branded 'unteachable' at school before being diagnosed with severe dyslexia. Now a successful novellist, Sally is also an avid spokesperson for dyslexia, keen to change attitudes about the condition. We spoke to her about her new book 'Maggot Moon', which features a central character with dyslexia.
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Books For All? A Young Adult’s View on Young Adult Fiction
Earlier this summer, bestselling children’s author GP Taylor called for an age certification system on works for young people, an idea that was loudly rejected by the writing community. But what do young people think of the way books are presented to them? The current ‘young adult’ label encompasses great swathes of reading matter for a broad age range – but does it restrict what young readers read? Is it too limiting? Is it not limiting enough? Library volunteer, avid reader and confirmed young person Claire Hargreaves offers her thoughts on the state of ‘young adult’ fiction today, and considers whether the category should be changed, kept, or discarded altogether.
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Poetry: Three Treasures by Hannah Lowe
A panelist at '2 Nations', our recent event exploring national identity, Hannah Lowe is a poet of Chinese, Jamaican and English heritage. In this poem she performed for the audience that night, she explores how her background has influenced her sense of her own identity.
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Bilingual Pupils Achieve Less Than Peers, Arvon Report Finds
School pupils who speak English as a second language are actually achieving less well than students with English as their first language in all regions of the UK except Inner London. The findings come from a new report commissioned by The Arvon Foundation, and contradict recent press coverage of the issue that highlighted the higher achievements of bilingual and multilingual…
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Bookstart Turns 20
Bookstart, the national book-gifting programme for babies and toddlers, run by Free Word founder member Booktrust, is turning 20. Having delivered more than 32 million books to babies and toddlers, along with resources to support and guide parents in reading with their children for the last two decades, Bookstart has a lot of reasons to celebrate. And how better to celebrate than by sharing more books? Iman Qureshi from Booktrust explains how the programme works, and how you can pledge to help it last another 20 years.
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Packed Lunches and Coco Butter: What is National Identity Today?
Young social media journalists from A New Direction have been investigating how national identity is defined in contemporary London and the UK. Leading up towards our '2 Nations' event on June 21st, these journalists will be untangling some of the ideas around national identity, and explaining what it means to them. In this article, Bianca Manu explains how moving to London from Ghana shaped her everyday life in surprising ways.
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Represent: A Collaboration Between Poets and Parliament
What does representation mean to you? In an exciting new project from Apples and Snakes, disenfranchised young people from 16 to 18 will be working with spoken word artists to explores issues of representation, democratic engagement and cultural identity in 2012. Made possible by the Free Word strategic commissioning fund, the project is a partnership between Apples and Snakes, Index on Censorship and…
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“The black stage” Fagin, Jewishness and the Prison Cell
In his third and final film about Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Professor Robert L. Patten explores the role of Fagin and the Jewish experience in Victorian England.
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“Stop Thief!” Oliver & Fagin’s Gang
Professor Robert L. Patten continues his exploration of the social and political resonances of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist in the second of our three exlusive short films.
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“Twist, I named him”
In the first of three exclusive short films, Professor Robert L. Patten introduces our new exhibition Conversations with a Twist and explores the political and social resonances of Dickens' seminal novel.
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Conversations with a Twist
Here at Free Word we are celebrating Charles Dickens' 200th birthday with a special exhibition in conjunction with the Charles Dickens Museum, Conversations with a Twist: Dickens, Oliver and Social Justice. This exhibition explores the relationship of Oliver Twist to wider social issues, including poverty, child labour, class and education. Much of the novel takes place in Clerkenwell, a stone'…
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Islington to host Word2012 Festival
From 11 to 31 May, Free Word's local borough of Islington will be transformed by poetry slams, reading flash mobs, author events and even a tea dance with a difference.
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Moomins, Spider-man and Secret Gardens
To celebrate World Book Day (March 1st) we asked five Free Word people to tell us about their favourite children's book.
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Stories to Touch
Director of if:book and Free Word Associate Chris Meade explores the digital reading possibilities of the iPad and Kindle for school children.
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“Why write about schools and not airports?” Riz MC performs at launch of Writers Bloc
Listen to Riz MC performing a new poem speed-written in response to the launch of international writing and education project Writers Bloc at the Free Word Centre.
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Past Event: We Have a Voice!
Thu 23 May 2013
1:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Join a chorus of young people at the Free Word Centre to celebrate the power of storytelling! Free Word’s Translator in Residence Canan Marasligil has been running a series of creative workshops with three schools in Islington throughout the spring, exploring storytelling in all its forms. From comics to recipes, poems to fairytales, young people from Islington Arts…
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Past Event: Signs
Fri 3 May 2013
1:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Children from Frank Barnes School for the Deaf and Gospel Oak School share what they have learned in workshops on signed poetry. Artist and performer Deepa Shastri, together with with poet Nadia Nadarajah, will lead workshops in the schools in April exploring the richness of translation between sign language and English, enouraging the children to come up with inventive ways…
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Past Event: Writing Our Own Stories: The Role of Narrative in Personal Development
Mon 25 Mar 2013
7:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
‘I am a part of all that I have met’, said Tennyson’s Ulysses. We are the stories we tell about ourselves – the way we interpret our past is central to our identity. Particularly, we can understand trauma as a story of catastrophe, or as a story of overcoming. People who have suffered – and caused …
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Past Event: Young Adult Fiction: Coming Out of the Closet
Thu 21 Feb 2013
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
This panel discussion will explore the portrayal of gay and lesbian characters and relationships in books for teens and young adults. While the US has recently seen something of an explosion in LGBT books for teens, there are still very few LGBT characters in books for this age group written and published in the UK. And although some recent well-known…
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Past Event: Seeing the World Differently
A celebration of reading and dyslexia
Thu 11 Oct 2012
7:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
To celebrate Dyslexia Awareness Week, join award-winning author Sally Gardner, Times children's book critic, Amanda Craig and Booktrust’s books and disability consultant, Alexandra Strick for a fascinating discussion around Sally’s latest novel Maggot Moon and how Hot Key Books are using new technology to open up conversations about dyslexia. This event will showcase the Maggot…
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Past Event: FREE2B: Project Palestine 2011
Wed 19 Sep 2012
6:30pmFree Word Hall
"FREE2B represents young people across the world using the arts as an initiative to exchange experiences and share common values despite cultural and political differences" Project Palestine 2011 A young and ambitious group traveled through the West Bank devising and developing work with young Palestinians that has now culminated in an exhibition to share our unique experience. To…
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Past Event: Two Nations
An evening of poetry, film, discussion and debate, built around an investigation by young journalsists into national identity at the Olympic Games.
Thu 21 Jun 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
A third of Londoners were born in another country. More Londoners have a parent born in another country than don’t. Split loyalties at sporting events are part of being British for many people living here. Presented by DJ, reporter and broadcaster Gemma Cairney, Two Nations brings together young Londoners from A New Direction’s Headstart programme to…
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Past Event: Sofia Z-4515 - Book Launch
Winner of the Artists against Nazism Award. A graphic memoir by Gunilla Lundgren and Amanda Eriksson based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Sofia Taikon.
Mon 28 May 2012
5:59pmFree Word Hall
The persecution and murder of the Romany people during World War II is a story that has seldom been told. When she was 12, Polish Gypsy Sofia Taikon (1931-2005) and her entire family were taken to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, a prisoner number was tattooed on her left arm: Z-4515. "Sofia Z-4515 is an understated but subtly affecting graphic…
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Past Event: Brave New Words
Wed 4 Apr 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
English PEN, Brighter Futures and NewVIc Activ8 are delighted to invite you to the launch of Brave New Words, a collection of poems, stories and reflections written by young people across London with refugee, asylum seeking and migrant backgrounds. A special event as part of Young People Seeking Safety Awareness Week, this evening will involve readings from the book, a…
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Past Event: Conversations with a Twist: Dickens, Oliver and Social Justice
Launch of a new exhibition at the Free Word Centre
Mon 19 Mar 2012
6:00pmFree Word Hall
Join us for an informal launch of Free Word’s new exhibition in collaboration with the Charles Dickens Museum. Conversations with a Twist will explore the relationship of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist on wider social issues, including poverty, child labour, class and education. Much of Oliver Twist takes place in Clerkenwell, a stone's throw from the…
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Past Event: Debating Matters
London & South Regional Final
Fri 9 Mar 2012
9:30amFree Word Lecture Theatre
This event is not open to the public. The Institute of Ideas presents the London & South Regional Final of Debating Matters. Sixth form students from six schools will debate issues from organ donation to the Olympics. Judges include Jonathan Heawood, Lindsay Johns and Elisabeth Tribe. Read the full programme here. …
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Past Event: Capturing the Voice
The importance of honesty and creativity in engaging with young people
Thu 23 Jun 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Reading Agency and Bounce! Invite you to an author panel discussion with drinks and book signing. Authors on panel: Colin Mulhern Isla Whitcroft Stephanie Burgis Chair: Anthony McGowen To Book email tricia.kings@readingagency.org.uk …