Meet Forgotten Planet, the first team on our 2019 collaborative project series
Our 3rd years are leading the second round of original collaborative projects
This term, for the second year running, our third-year students are hard at work with a range of collaborative projects. These student-led projects are part of a module where they consider the writer’s role as part of a creative eco-system, and literature’s role in the creative economy through working on a collaborative project.
On our first interview of the year, we talked to Katie Dimech & Rhianna Gibbs about their project Forgotten Planet.
Describe your project
Forgotten Planet is a poetry anthology highlighting climate change and endangered species. Our aim is to inspire readers to care for and protect the environment by including the voices of the younger generations.
Why did you choose this project?
We believe offering children a platform to have their say is a new and vital approach to educating adults on environmental issues. We both feel passionate about taking positive action against climate change, and wanted to create a meaningful project which combines our own poetry with that of young children.
What do you want to gain?
Professional experience with working with children, organising a project, publishing, editing and collaborating with outside companies. We also both enjoy writing poetry, and wanted the chance to publish our work.
What are you most excited about?
Inspiring the children to be as passionate as we are about environmental issues and endangered species, and using this passion to educate adults. We're really excited to involve young voices in the discussion and work directly with children to encourage them to write creatively.
What has been the most enjoyable part so far?
Meeting the children and hearing their knowledge on the climate crisis, and seeing how engaged they are with political issues. Talking to them about their love for reading and writing has been very rewarding, and it's been wonderful to see how creative they can be given the right outlet and encouragement.
What is next for your project?
We will have a published anthology by the end of the semester, and we hope to then take this forward to a more developed project, involving other schools. We hope to continue our workshops, with the aim to have an even bigger anthology of environmental children's poetry in the future, maybe even expanding nationwide!
by the Falwriting team