Between 2022 and 2024, I worked with the National Centre for Children’s Books, Seven Stories on Whose Books Are These Anyway?—a two-year project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation exploring how children and young people can creatively engage with archival collections. The project centred on the Seven Stories Collection, an archive of work by more than 250 children’s authors and illustrators spanning from the 1930s to the present day.

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Working with 12 schools across County Durham, Newcastle and Northumberland, the programme focused particularly on rural and

under-served communities with limited access to cultural opportunities. For many students, this was their first introduction to the Seven Stories archive. Through hands-on creative workshops, the project aimed to build meaningful connections between young people and the Collection while supporting the development of their cultural confidence and creative skills.

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Across the two years, I designed and delivered a wide range of participatory sessions inspired by materials from the archive. Activities included character illustration, storytelling and storyboarding, bookmaking, sound-based storytelling using the BBC Sound Archive, stop-motion animation and creative writing. Students were also introduced to archival handling through “white glove” sessions exploring original collection materials.

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Alongside the delivery of the workshops, I managed project partnerships, audience development and participant recruitment, and carried out archival and curriculum research to shape the programme. In early 2024, I also created the content for an online exhibition showcasing the work produced by students alongside curated objects and artwork from the Collection.

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The project created lasting relationships between schools and Seven Stories while demonstrating how archival collections can become a catalyst for creativity, storytelling and new forms of engagement with literature.