One of things we love to do the most at Hive is reach out and work with great partners. THrough 2020 Hive’s own Nik Perring has been enjoying the role of Writer-in-Residence for Sheffield Libraries’ Year of Reading.
We had many activities planned to work with young people in Sheffield for this exciting programme of events but, like for everyone else, we’ve had to adapt what we’ve been able to deliver. Sometimes that’s meant rescheduling things, other times we’ve been able to move into something digital. While that was a little scary and unknown, it’s something we’ve embraced and something that’s been very fruitful. It’s certainly shown us that we’ll definitely be doing more online delivery in future.
Digitally, Nik ran many workshops for young people, from schools to community groups – including masterclasses; writing for competitions; adventuring into writing for the libraries’ Adventure Festival, and looking at how to be a professional writer. There was reflection and roleplay, rules and rebellion.
We’re also worked on two publications with the Children in Care Council, The Can in Can’t, and an end of year intergenerational project, Dear 2021, in association with the BBC’s Novels that Changed the World.
Nik says, ‘The coolest thing about these workshops was the opportunity to work with young writers new to the network. It’s great showing them what they can do with the talents they already have, as well as what the Library Service and Hive can offer them.’
We were thrilled with how the sessions and projects went and it was wonderful to see so many new faces who were able to attend including those living a little further afield.
Stay tuned to see what’s coming up, and visit the Sheffield Libraries’ page here
“I genuinely enjoyed how there was different exercises to look at different things and I also liked how I was introduced to new pieces of writing. I also never thought about using images as inspiration which is something I will be doing from now on.”
“I really enjoyed the variety of different prompts in this workshop and the feedback given was great.”
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Hive have been delighted to support Sheffield Library’s Year of Reading 2020 as part of its young people’s strand of activity including the Hive New Writer Prize – for 14-19 years and part of the Love Sheffield Writing competition.
Sheffield Year of Reading 2020 is a 12 month, citywide celebration of creativity and the written word. Reading is the key that unlocks the door to life’s riches. It helps us feel better, discover more, and unleash our individual creativity.
This year people from across our city came together in libraries, schools, museums, parks, and then a lot of living rooms and bedrooms, to share the simple joy of words. It was literary and silly, it was big and small, it was on the page and in our computer speakers.
More on Sheffield Year of Reading