Girls who read, lead: bringing young, diverse narratives to the bookshelves.
The Project
Over the course of a year, 11 young girls from School 21 came together to amplify their voice, perspective and stories to create, write and publish their very own book. With the support of Creative Writing Mentors, each writer went on a journey of creating a world that explores themes of belonging, race, identity and equality.
The project culminated in a 2 week pop-up bookshop and story-telling lab in the heart of Covent Garden, London which became home to selling the girls book as well as championing diverse narratives and authors.
Programme
Social Action Programme
Project
Strong Lead
Community Partners
School 21, The Social Switch Project, Guap x Reebok,The Big Education Trust, EasyPress, Clays, Appear Here & Marble London
If I could make my voice heard…
The Programme
This project came about as a result of girls we have been working with since we started Sisterhood School. With every programme girls showed concern about the importance and value of their voice, their stories and not reading or hearing enough narratives that reflected their own experience, backgrounds and culture. And with only 23% of lead characters in kids books being female we knew that we needed to make space for girls to tell their own stories, and see more diverse young writers on our bookshelves.
During the year-long programme School 21 Sisters collaborated together in identifying what they wanted to write about, understanding the themes of race, identity and equality and exploring different creative writing techniques to bring this to life. The girls were supported by creative writing mentors who brought their expertise and experience in equipping the girls with confidence in their ability to write as well as skills and techniques to storytelling.
Exploring Themes and Writing Styles
The girls spent 3 months exploring different styles of creative writing, from social justice poetry, telling stories inspired by visual images to manifesto’s.
Creative Writing Mentors
Over 8 weeks, each of the girls worked with their own mentor to support them in writing the story they most wanted to tell.
Visual Storytelling
Alongside writing, Aaliyah & Oliwia also stepped up to the challenge of exploring a different type of storytelling. Through the programme Aaliyah & Oliwia worked with Blake House in creating a documentary that explores friendship, the meaning of work and life through their time at Sisterhood.
Find Me Among Them
From Book to Bookshop
Imagine a space championing young girls, their work and words. That’s the space we built over summer 2021. With the support of Appear Here’s ‘Space for Ideas’ competition and Marble London, Sisterhood set up a pop-up bookshop and storytelling lab in Covent Garden to champion girls' voices, diverse writers and a creative community space. Have a watch of the behind the scenes of popping up our first physical space and why we chose to bring it to life.
Beyond The Programme
Strong Lead Wrapped
After 2 weeks of sharing and telling stories, here’s the impact we made in just 2 weeks. Have a read through the impact you help us make.
Find Me Among Them AR Edition (Augmented Reality)
If you thought we were done with the book, we have a surprise in store! We have been working with Ricebox Studio and students from UAL to bring the girls stories to life through AR! That’s right, not just in words but you can now experience the stories come to life visually through your phone.
Press
The word got to the streets and the book and project received features from London Live, The London Economic, Sheerluxe, Appear Her and more.