Write. Teach. Create. Whether you’re a teacher or community arts worker with a passion for writing, or a writer with a passion for working with children and young people, Paper Nation’s Writing Ambassadors Training Programme 2017 is designed to equip you with the skills and expertise to design and deliver your own innovative and sustainable creative writing education projects. The … Read More
Call out for Writers
Paper Nations is currently looking for writers to run creative writing workshops across a range of schools we are working with in the South West. Are you a writer interested in building your experience of working with young people and developing creative writing in an educational setting? Or, are you already running successful or innovative creative writing workshops in schools and open to expanding your reach and exchanging best practice? If … Read More
Dare to Write: Who Ate Santa’s Snacks?
Christmas is almost here! So, for our last Dare to Write challenge of 2016, imagine this: You come downstairs on Christmas morning to find the snacks you left out for Santa gone. All that’s left are crumbs and an empty glass. Who ate them? Santa or someone else? Did they do anything else while they were there? And have they … Read More
Dare to Write: Advent Calendar Antics
We’re guessing lots of you opened the first doors on your advent calendars yesterday! Advent calendars count down the days to Christmas, with each door revealing a picture or present of some kind (usually small toys or chocolate, though there are some with puzzles, poems and other intriguing items hidden in each box!). For this week’s writing dare, start a … Read More
Dare to Write: Secret Lives of Snowmen
Winter has arrived, and with it sometimes comes snow. Maybe not enough for school to be cancelled, but usually enough to build a snowman. So for this week’s writing dare, we want you to imagine: What would your ideal snowman look like? Do they have snowmen friends and family? What about animals or enemies? What if they came to life … Read More
Dare to Write: Fantastic Beasts
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes out today! The new film takes place in 1920s New York and chronicles the adventures of Newt Scamander after his global excursion to find and document an array of magical creatures. So our Dare to Write challenge for this week is… Create your own fantastic beast. What do they look like? Do … Read More
Dare to Write: Tongue Twisters
This Sunday is International Tongue Twister Day! So, for this week’s writing challenge, we dare you to either… Invent your own tongue twister. It’s all in the alliteration, so pick a letter and start scribbling down ideas of all the words that start with that letter, then see how you can combine similar sounds so they trip up your tongue … Read More
Paper Nations at the NAWE Conference
In the countdown to their annual conference, we want to introduce one of our project partners, NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education). NAWE’s mission is to further knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of creative writing. As part of that, they’re coordinating a three-day programme of talks, workshops and other events, taking place next weekend. During this year’s conference, we’ll be … Read More
Paper Nations at Bath Children’s Literature Festival
Earlier this month, Paper Nations was part of Bath Children’s Literature Festival, the largest dedicated children’s book festival in Europe. Our event explored how we can keep creative writing alive in schools; how we can inspire and empower a nation of young creative writers despite the other pressures facing teachers and students. Chaired by Guardian Children’s Books Editor Julia Eccleshare … Read More
Hair-raising Halloween Writing Prompts
Halloween is almost here, so here are some of our favourite resources to make your stories this month even more spooktacular. Put on your creepiest masks and costumes, draw the curtains against any lurking ghosts and ghouls, and pen us a petrifying tale or two using the ideas below… Spooky Story Starters Get a brilliant beginning from the Story Starts … Read More