Cranford Review 2015

Stephen Kelman Workshop
On
Friday 19th June 2015, the English
Department organised an author event
with Stephen Kelman, author of “Pigeon English”
who delivered an inspiring workshop to students at
Cranford. Firstly, he introduced himself and told the
story of how a young boy felt isolated in his new
town. Not all students had heard of his novel, but
we were all so intrigued by the stark reality of this
storyline.
We then completed a writing task in groups, thinking
about how we would feel in the boy’s shoes and to
write from the perspective of someone outside their
comfort zone, having moved to a new place.
The groups came up with lots of different ideas for
a story about moving to a new place, from an alien
on a new planet, to a student in a new school. I
really enjoyed it because we were able to work on
teamwork skills and Stephen was there, helping us think of ideas and making
suggestions for our stories. He encouraged us to brainstorm and create new
ideas so our stories could be exciting and interesting.
He spoke to us at the end to encourage us to read widely, visit the library
and write short stories in our own time. I’m really glad I went. Here are
two stories written by students who attended the workshop.
Ayisha Mahmood (year 7)
I
swam off into the rubble
peacefully residing on the
seabed, it was almost frightening.
The scale of destruction came
overhead. Miniscule pieces created
a sandstorm like movement. The
movement was not violent, just
beautiful. “Wow!” I said to myself. I
laid back to float and waited. I did not wait
for anything but myself. My relaxation was shortlived
as I hit my head on an arched door. I cursed. The
door was corroded heavily through time and sea water. I wandered
through that very door and found myself in place more beautiful than
that meatloaf from earlier. It was the little remains of parliament,
it was just a mixture of rooms and halls with no roof, I sighed in
disappointment. Looking down, I found an unusually old container;
it looked to be a box of importance - yet if I were to open it,
anything inside would be destroyed. While investigating I was
covered by an ominous shadow, my heart skipped a beat. I dare not
look up. At that moment, I hated everything. If I looked up, I felt
everything I sought after would have ended. I expected something
of goliath proportions. I had repeated those lines. My fate and my soul
were up to me. I looked up and I was right. Everything I had wanted in life ended right there,
thousands of fathoms below sea level. The shadow was, I whispered “Big Ben” in all its glory.
Karan Kumar (year 9)
Big Ben
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