Flight

At the end of June ten aspiring young writers embarked on the 6 month FLIGHT project of one to one advice, guidance and online support from a mentor. The writers together represent the genres of fiction, poetry, performance poetry, scriptwriting and children's writing.

On Board Flight:

Mentees:

Gurpreet Rai - peformance poetry
Yemisi Blake - short stories
Dean Atta - performance poetry
Isabel Galleymore - poetry
Lucy Ivison - Children's writing
Irenosen Iseghohi-Okojie - fiction
Awet Yohans - fiction
Jasmine Cooray - poetry
Opeyemi Araromi - poetry
Kim Richardson - script writing

Mentors:

The young writers and Spread the Word team met in the newly renovated South Bank Centre, to write, meet each other and meet the mentors. Have a look below at the photos to see what happened and who is involved....

The young writers get their pens at the ready for some writing exercises ....

Jenneba takes the floor to explain about how mentoring works

A mentor, Rebbecca Ray, with one of the young writers, Gurpreet Rai Singh, as they all meet for the first time!

Autumn Update

British Library
With each Flight writer furiously scribbling away as they are midway through the programme, we got together to share how things are going and explore the British Library. The Library tour was a treat, our guide sporting a monocle and cricket jumper with numerous quips up his sleeve! The British Library is a great resource for research and membership passes were available to every Flight writer.

Writer's Carousel
Spread the Word's Writer's Carousel is a seasonal event, with a high profile writer being interviewed and doing a reading from their latest work. Flight participants now have the chance to take the stage as the interviewer and Awet Yohans made an impressive debut this season.

Writer Hari Hunzru takes the floor and is interviewed by Awet

Arvon

Mentees and other young writers packed their bags in November and headed down to the West country for their first experience of Arvon. This was the Totleigh Barton centre, a beautiful farmhouse in the middle of fields - perfect for inspiration! Yemisi captured some of that great outdoors on camera....

Tutors Donna Daley Clarke, Jacob Sam-La Rose and Rebbecca Ray led workshops on prose and poetry writing and there was free time in the afternoon to write. Here's what people said:

Overall the week was incredibly nourishing and exciting; not only were the tutorials and workshops valuable but the opportunity to talk with fellow writers over dinner was wonderful! Isabel - poet

It was good to experience the variety of writing voices and share share share! Irensosen - Novelist

Disembarking - February 2008 

It has come to an end - Flight has landed!  A final Flight meeting gave participants the chance to share their experiences, reflect on how much they had progressed as writers and think about the next steps.  For although his Flight has landed, they have only just begun their journey.....