First Story

Who we are

William Fiennes and Katie Waldegrave met in 2007, when Katie was a teacher at a state secondary and William was the Writer-in-Residence at a fee-paying school. Together they developed a plan to bring William’s writing expertise into Katie’s under-resourced school. Based on the success of this pilot project, a year later the pair founded First Story. They set out to provide high-quality creative writing opportunities for young people in schools in low-income communities.

What we do

First Story is England’s leading creative writing charity for young people. Our flagship Young Writers Programme pairs professional writers with secondary schools in low-income communities, where they work intensively with a cohort of young people, nurturing creativity, confidence and ability. Our extra-curricular enrichment provision encourages aspirations as it expands horizons.