Young writers from Fulham have hit the printing presses after their words were chosen for a new anthology, titled Adventures in Creativity.
The young wordsmiths – aged seven to 13 – wrote their stories and poems at weekly Write-London sessions held at the Sands End Associated Projects in Action (SEAPIA) building in Marinefield Road.
"They can pick any topic they want, and they do pick topics that keep us on our toes," explained Write-London founder Tom Mallender.
To celebrate the completed work, family and friends were invited to a listening party to hear the youngsters read out their entries before they received certificates for their work. Max and Malia, co-authors of C.A.T. Meme War, said they were inspired by cat jokes.
"It took us a few months to write it, the full story is about 6 chapters – it's very long," said Max. "We started by picking the cat memes and formed the story around them. It was hard work but everything that's good is hard."
Benefits of writing
The writing sessions run for an hour – 4pm to 5pm on Thursdays – but usually the young people stay longer.
"What's amazing is that you can see the real time benefit writing club has on the children. I couldn't be prouder of their genuine transformation into talented writers," added Tom.
"When we started, some children were incredibly quiet and reserved. And now, if we asked people to pick those children out, they'd have no idea. They absolutely love it, and we have to fight to get them out when it's time to leave."
Maya, nine, spent two years writing her story Maya and Chi, and was a little nervous to recite it. "I'm really pleased with my story," she said. "My favourite part about writing club is that you can write whatever you want, and it doesn't take me very long to come up with ideas. I'm going to carry on writing."
Loving every minute
Each week the Write-London team introduce a topic or a creative idea that's new to the group and the club practice putting it into their work.
"He's been coming to writing club since it started, three years now, and he's loved every minute of it," said Sabae, mother of 10-year-old Junaid.
"They're done such a great job of just focusing them on their writing, putting the sentences' structure together better, developing certain ideas. It's improved his schoolwork 100%. He's really creative, give it a few years and you might see him with published books!"
While SEAPIA's manager Julie Cavanagh said: "The club has made such a difference. The confidence that these children have grown is amazing, because they're allowed to be themselves. There are no rules, the children can write whatever they want, and I want to say the biggest thank you to them, we all think they're amazing."
