Annette Street Primary and Smithycroft Secondary School in Glasgow have each been chosen to receive an author residency from Scottish Book Trust. Authors Emily Dodd and Chris McQueer will work with the schools on specific creative projects.
Scottish Book Trust today announced the nine schools who will receive fully-funded author residencies this school year to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing and support learning professionals with their practice. The residencies will run across the 2018-19 school year and finish by Easter 2019. As well as an author residency, schools will receive a resources grant of £500, as well as an invitation to an induction day.
The Live Literature School Residencies Programme, now in its third year, is funded by Walter Scott Giving Group and delivered by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing.
Schools across the country were invited to apply to the programme, which enables professional authors to build a relationship with pupils and engage them in a project. Each school taking part in the programme will receive 12 fully-funded residency sessions carried out by an author from Scottish Book Trust’s author database. This directory includes almost 800 professional writers, poets, playwrights, illustrators, performance poets and storytellers.
Each school’s project will be showcased on Scottish Book Trust’s website, alongside suggested learning resources and helpful tips to make the most of the residency sessions.
Emily Dodd is an Edinburgh based-writer who is passionate about science, wildlife and storytelling. She is a screenwriter for CBeebies science programme Nina and the Neurons and has written and presented science shows for the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh University, National Museums Scotland and Our Dynamic Earth. Emily writes fiction books for children and non-fiction books for adults and children.
Chris McQueer is a 20-something year old writer from Glasgow. Chris kept his writing a secret from his friends and family for several months before his girlfriend encouraged him to share his work through Twitter. His recent collection, Hings, won the Saboteur Awards Best Short Story Collection. His novella, Leathered, was published earlier this year.
Author Emily Dodd said: “I’m so excited about the opportunity to work as a writer in residence with Annette Street Primary – I feel honoured that they picked me and I can’t wait to get to know teachers and pupils, and work with the school to help them enjoy reading and writing.”
Author Chris McQueer said: “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits to be working with the young people at Smithycroft this year. This is an incredible initiative from Scottish Book Trust and one which will have massive benefits for the pupils, staff and writers involved. I just hope I can pass on some words of wisdom to the young people and not just fill their heads with nonsense!”
Isabel Owens, EAL staff member of Annette Street Primary, School said:
“At Annette Street we love to bring learning to life and so we are excited to have science and nature writer Emily Dodd coming to work with us. We are all looking forward to working with a real author and creating a reading and writing experience that our children will never forget, will motivate them to focus on the joys of literacy and may even change their lives!”
Jean Miller, Headteacher of Smithycroft Secondary School, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Chris McQueer as our Scottish Book Trust writer in residence. We look forward to lots of our young people getting an opportunity to work with Chris and develop their literacy and creativity skills. We are also confident that he will enjoy the experience of working with our young people and, hopefully, learn from them too.”
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “The Live Literature programme gives those in education settings the opportunity to collaborate with professional writers, storytellers and creators from all over Scotland. We’re pleased to offer nine fully-funded residencies, which will help pupils to foster a love for reading and writing that can last a lifetime.”
The full list of schools receiving fully-funded author residencies are:
· Gigha Primary School, Argyll and Bute
· Loudoun Academy, East Ayrshire
· Forrester High School, Edinburgh
· Kirkcaldy High School, Fife
· Annette Street Primary, Glasgow
· Smithycroft Secondary School, Glasgow
· All Saints Primary, Inverclyde
· Cumbrae Primary, North Ayrshire
· Spittal Primary, South Lanarkshire
