Eastside Young Writers’ group
In 2000, Eastside Arts ran a series of writing workshops at Tower Hamlets Summer University. The workshops were called ‘Stories not for Telling’ and got the young people to write about life as they saw it and explore stories that aren’t always told or heard.
After the workshops all the writers wanted to continue to work together and so Eastside Young Writers Group was formed.
Participants said:
* ‘This is a great opportunity for me to meet loads of people my age and write alongside them’
* ‘The group all get along really well … creatively we all think along the same lines’
* ‘Group writing helps me to look at a character from someone else’s perspective’
The group ran for three years and took part in many events and projects in Tower Hamlets and beyond.
Sima’s Story
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The group developed a short story by one of its members, an evocative real-life drama of teenage pregnancy set in the heart of the Bengali community that looked at the taboos of unmarried sex and abortion. They worked with a local film company to film part of the script (link to film clip?) and, in 2004, performed alongside professional actors in a rehearsed reading of the script at the Royal Court.
Perfect Fried Blues – writing for film
Spit Lit
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Eastside Young writer’s group & students from Oaklands Secondary school took part in an event at the the Spit-Lit Festival in March 2002. Entitled Sex, Violence and Horror, is that what you want in a novel? The young people read their own work alongside readings from popular teenage fiction writers Millie Murray, Celia Rees, and Catherine Johnson, and took part in a panel discussion.
Music Hall Mystery and Mischief
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In May 2002, Eastside Arts hosted the launch of Catherine Johnson’s novel, Stella, set in a Victorian music hall, at Wiltons music hall, the oldest surviving music hall in Britain. Members of Eastside’s young writers group read their own work. Bridget Crowley, author of Step Into The Dark, set around Hoxton Music Hall, also took part in the event, which started with a mini tour of Wiltons and featured music by Kalima Dimitrova.
