"Freedom is … the right to write the wrong words" – Patti Smith
Before we all go off for the summer, I’m so excited to post this interview I did with NI teen writer Dara McAnulty!
Dara is 16, and his first book Diary of a Young Naturalist, which was published in May this year, is about conservation, activism, writing, being autistic, being bullied, his school, his family and most of all, his deep love of the natural world.
When I started this year as Children’s Writing Fellow I had no idea what to expect. But I bet none of us expected to be ending the year like this!
It’s been an absolutely mad year but also really wonderful and I just want to say thank you so much to all the schools who’ve contacted me and used the blog. The thought that there are new creative writing groups being set up around NI makes me so happy! I hope they run for years and give lots and lots of young people opportunities to be creative, and all the benefits that creativity brings.
Just a quick post to share this amazing Zoom recording by the Embassy of Ireland, Pretoria, of young writers from South Africa and Ireland reading pieces they’ve written about what it means to be a young person today.
The Blank Page was created by Kelly McCaughrain, Children’s Writing Fellow for NI (2019-2021), as a support and resource for Librarians and Teachers running Creative Writing Groups in post-primary schools.
To read all the posts from the beginning, click here.
