I am thrilled to be able to share that a poem by one of the brilliant young writers from my First Story residency group at Judgemeadow Community College is featured on this week’s Friday Story here.

Raasmiya’s poem was written during one of my workshops earlier this year, in response to Malika Booker’s poem ‘My Mother’s Blues’. The workshop was adapted from one I saw Jasmine Ann Cooray deliver at a First Story summer residential a couple of years ago. So, big thanks to Malika for providing such an inspiring poem and Jasmine for showing me how to make the most of the poem in a workshop.

Raasmiya’s response is a heartfelt tribute to her grandfather and when she read the first draft to the group in the original workshop it moved all of us there. I am so glad she worked on the poem and chose to include it in Judgemeadow Community College’s forthcoming collection of work ‘I right Inglish goodlyer then U’. The anthology of the students’ work is a wonderful mix of poetry and prose and I am very proud to have played a small part in helping them create such a great collection of writing.

Please do check out the First Story website for the latest on all their efforts to change lives through writing.