World Book Night

I've been selected as a 2014 World Book Night Giver!! I've taken part before and it is fantastic to be involved in giving the joy of reading, the joy of imagination through 'new' books to people who can't normally afford to buy them or don't usually read.

It was with this in my mind that I chose my three books:

• Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab
• Short Stories by Roald Dahl
• Four Warned by Jeffrey Archer

I got my first choice:

Abandoned as a baby, Andy McNab's start in life was tough. He grew up in South London with foster parents, and poverty on all sides. Andy attended seven schools in as many years, disillusioned and in remedial classes. Before long his life was one of petty crime. By the age of sixteen he was in juvenile detention.

The book opens with a break in that goes very, very badly wrong and is even more shocking for the reader when we discover just how young Andy is. From there he tells the story of his tough youth till, in the army, he learns to read and everything changes. This is an incredibly powerful story of how important reading and literacy is, first hand from someone who knows what it's like to be an adult who struggles with reading and who has gone on to make his living as a writer. Today Everything Changes is the inspiring story of when life changed for the better for now bestselling author Andy McNab. 

This is quite an odd choice for me, and not a book I would usually choose because of the army connection. However, firstly I am not choosing a book for myself, I'm choosing a book for somebody who possibly may not have read a book for many, many years. Secondly, I know from personal experience just how important reading and literacy is and thirdly, I was aware of this book before World Book Night, as we have a copy in the library where I work. It is a Quick Read book and I have spent the last few years promoting Quick Reads.

1 in 6 adults of working age in the UK find reading difficult and may never pick up a book.  People’s reasons for not reading are varied but are often based in fear. Some people say they find books scary and intimidating, thinking they are ‘not for them’ or that books are difficult or boring.

Quick Reads sets out to challenge these beliefs and to show that books and reading can be for everyone. Each year we commission big name authors to write short books that are specifically designed to be easy to read.  They are the same as mainstream books in every respect but are simply shorter and easier to tackle for adults who are less confident in their reading skills. The books are then sold through major retailers, online booksellers and are loaned from libraries.

Quick Reads is making real, lasting changes to people’s lives.  Since 2006 they have distributed over 4.5 million books, registered 3 million library loans and through the outreach work hundreds of thousands of new readers each year, often in some of the hardest to reach communities, are introduced to the joys and benefits of reading. 

I thought about the people I would be giving the books to, some will be homeless, and some will be care leavers. There is scientific proof that children in care who are going through trauma find it very difficult to concentrate and this is often the reason why some children in care find it difficult to keep up with their studies. And this is the same trauma that a homeless person will be facing. Moved from placement to placement, living on their wits, no wonder it's so difficult to sit quietly with a book and feel safe enough to get lost in the wonderful worlds created by authors. So, it is was with this criteria that I chose my three books. Two Quick Reads and one set of short stories. And I love the title of my first choice, Today Everything Changes. I hope that when my WBN book receivers read the first page it will be the first step on a journey to a positive change in their lives. 

Writer? Activist? Writer? Activist?

For some time now I have been feeling a wee bit schizophrenic, having to put on various outfits depending on what is happening out there in the fictional and real world. I feel I am losing my grip on who or what I am, or should be, or what I ‘ought’ to be writing on this blog. I see that other writers find a niche and they stick to it, whether it is chic lit, fiction writing in general or some other aspect of writing like publishing or blogging. I write fiction and non-fiction and I am also an activist and that is the problem.

I was very involved with Friern Barnet Library, and started a petition to re-open it. As well as campaigning for libraries, green spaces, and many other injustices, such as the way single mothers were ostracised in the 50s, 60s and 70s. I also co-run Greenacre Writers which involves various groups for people writing novels and short stories, workshops and the fantastic (recently renamed) Finchley Literary Festival. And on top of this, I keep my eye on issues that affect children in care and care leavers. I spent all of my childhood in care. I lived in a residential nursery, I lived with foster people, various family members and in children’s homes. So I have interests in many camps. In the last week or so I had been thinking about the new year and how this year I would be sticking to only writing about writing, I would not be tempted or sidetracked by political issues/stupidity. No, not me, from 2014, I would only write about writing and fiction. And then this happened:  Children to stay with foster families until they are 21 To which there has been celebratory response and I also join that celebration.

While it’s really fantastic that foster kids can stay with their families until they are 21 instead of 18, I question the legality of a decision that chooses one group of children in care over another. What happens to the children in residential homes when they get to 18? At the moment they have to leave. The current ruling excludes them. Approximately 9% of all children in care (68,000) will still have to leave care at 18. Is this just and fair? Natasha Finlayson, CEO of the Who Cares Trust, said via Twitter that it… 'Will be harder to extend support for kids in children's homes I think, but there is a rock solid equality case to be made.' I do not understand how a government press release that begins: ‘All children in care…’ can by the end of the first sentence conveniently omit nearly 7,000 children from the new legal duty on councils to provide support up until 21 years of age. These are the 7,000 children in residential care, children's homes, a minority not included in this new legislation. I dread to think how the children in those homes will be feeling after this news but having been in care myself, I can imagine.

This poster was done by a child in a children's home.

Ben Ashcroft is author of 51 Moves a story that chronicles the harrowing experiences of the social care and welfare system and his journey - the 51 times he moved premises between 9 and 18 years of age and its impact. He told me that many young people in children’s homes had contacted him to let him know of their distress and despondency at the news. Ben said, ‘There are a lot of us fighting the corner of young people in homes. They deserve so much better than to be treated like this. The stories of anger I have heard since yesterday from young people. They are feeling it! People need to stand up and be counted as all these young people deserve to be treated equally until 21. Nice to see so many people who do care!!’ 

Ben also shared a message from a 15 year old in a children’s home: ‘Just because foster children are settled in a family environment does not mean that young people in residential [homes] are not. I would love to live here until I am 21.' Ben added: ‘If you are in support of young people in children's homes getting the same support as Foster kids until 21+ please join our campaign. [Twitter @AshcroftBen and see details of the petition below.] It is only fair all looked after children get support until 21+ no matter where they live.’

It was while I was Tweeting my support to Ben that I saw another Tweet from Ian Dickson who is one of the organisers of The Christmas Dinner.* Some people don’t like Crowd Funding, but this is one that will add to the enjoyment of your Christmas dinner by helping young homeless care leavers who could possibly be searching rubbish bins for their Christmas food. Ian asked in Tweet speak: ‘…what happens if an 'older' foster placement breaks down? Res care or the street? Needs discussion.’ 

I realised the enormity of this was mind boggling, one day an 18 year old foster person is in care looking forward to three more years of having a home, the placement breaks down, as they often do, and the next day the young person is in a residential children’s home. Does he/she suddenly have to get out of the children’s home having lost the 3 years he/she would have gained in a foster home? I don’t know the answer to this question but whether it happens over days or weeks, there is NO government financial support for kids in children’s homes over 18 years of age.

And what effect will this legislation have on children in care who have already been separated or rejected by family - sometimes via the courts and ‘parent’ state that is supposed to protect them. Suddenly the 7,000 have become second-class citizens again, without a voice by the very institution that has very recently said in the Care Leavers Charter: ‘We will make sure you do not have to fight for support you are entitled to and we will fight for you if other agencies let you down…’ So what will the government do now - fight themselves? 

And what can we do?

We can begin to help make the change needed for those in residential care by signing this petition

So, there you are, another campaign underway. It's not as if there aren't campaigners that are also writers, George Orwell for instance, who wrote 1984; and Alice Walker who wrote The Colour Purple and many other social change books. She even describes herself as having been "an activist all of her adult life" and she writes fiction. So it looks as though I’ll have to put up with my split-writing personality for now, I didn’t even get to make a new year’s writing resolution before the activist in me took over and made me write this blog!

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*The Christmas Dinner is a pop up organisation founded by the poet Lemn Sissay MBE. Ian is part of a group of 12 professionals. Their aim is to provide a Christmas Day Dinner for care leavers aged between 18 and 25 on Christmas Day in Manchester. Many care leavers are sat in flats, B&B’s, hostels, away from family or are sofa surfing and indeed living on the streets on their own at Christmas. Christmas is a reminder of everything they never had. It's often a dreaded day. Not now. They will put on a scrumptious Christmas meal and create a magical day to remember at a secret location in Manchester where they will provide dinner for forty 18-25 year olds. 

*Another worthy Christmas cause is the Topѐ Project,  a volunteer run, youth led project, aiming to combat loneliness for care-experienced young people. The Topѐ Project is named after a 23-year-old care leaver who took his own life in 2010. His death had a profound impact on the young people who knew him, and after this tragic event the group came together to look out for and support one another. Each year since, the group has come together during the holidays for a Christmas celebration. Many care leavers dread Christmas and find it an isolating time. They are often not in touch with previous foster families or children’s home and spend the day alone in independent accommodation.

All that's left for me to do now is to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.