COP26 - Climate Stories ‘Our Earthstory’ at Seven Stories
Climate Stories
Friday 12 November, 6pm - Sita Brahmachari and Rhona Smith ( School of Law)
At COP26 we have heard the children of our world speak… the future is theirs. In ‘Where The River Runs Gold’ children’s rights are betrayed at every turn due to the lack of action of governments in the pockets of corporations.
Sometimes life and art seem very close… Rhona and I will share real life and fictional stories… sometimes it is hard to tell which is which.
Many aspects of children’s lives in The Kairos Lands are recognisable in our present day. The children are refusing to accept the economic and environmental inequalities… and scattering the seeds of hope for the future.
Real children at Fridays for Futures marches are carrying the ‘Dare, Dream, Believe, Imagine’ banner that gives Shifa and her brother strength in ‘Where The River Runs Gold’… and at the end of COP26 we will be holding it aloft too.
The talk will include a screening of the award winning animation ‘Footsteps on The Wind’ directed by Maya Sanbar which myself and fellow children’s and YA author and activist, Onjali Rauf have contributed story development to. ( Find out more here)
I am honoured to have been invited to talk about this story with Rhona Smith Professor of International Human Rights at Newcastle University and chaired by award-winning poet Linda France, Newcastle University's Climate Writer in Residence.
In this filmed discussion we will look at the way the way in which Climate Change impacts children’s rights the world over. This comes just weeks after we welcomed Little Amal the Syrian refugee puppet at the South Bank with a welcome story ‘ ‘Swallow’s Kiss.’ ( Find out more here)
Little Amal has walked with her puppeteers from Syria and at the South Bank was welcomed by members of the refugee centre where I’m writer in residence along with artists in residence Jane Ray and Ros Asquith. ( Website here)
Many of the refugee survivors at the centre have been made so because of the destruction of their homes through war - devastation of lands and waters through pollution, climate change or the greed of corporations. So many of the people we work with at the centre have so much to contribute to our societies. Baba Suli the bee keeping ancestor in ‘Where The River Runs Gold’ is inspired by Dr Ryad Alsous who today is teaching the people of Yorkshire bee keeping.( Read more here)
The character of Shifa was partly inspired by Dr Mya-Rose Craig whom I first met with author Gill Lewis at The People’s Walk for Wildlife. Now she has published a book ‘We Have a Dream’ here raising up and championing the voices of young indigenous people the world over. We have heard from these young people at COP26… and we must act on their cries. A new book from Amnesty International ‘Know Your Rights and Claim them’ is, in my mind essential reading for young people today.
Writing stories that give young people agency in today’s world has been at the heart of all my storytelling and never more so than in may latest stories in which the mental health and stability of young people depends on how well we as adults can listen now.
‘When Shadows Fall’ is Kai, an eighteen year old boy’s journal of his growing years. He cannot tell his story without the help of his childhood friends and one friend in particular, Omid, a refugee survivor from Syria recognises Kai’s trauma and they help each other through.
‘When shadows fall you stand beside’ so says Omid.
The young people in our world and in Kai’s story are desperately struggling to protect the ‘Greenlands’ that give them their peace, strength and health.. and the beautiful survival trees, song birds and species that live there are integral to these young people’s lives and futures. In this story I talk of ‘Passing the pen and paintbrush’ to a new generation of young people… every story seed I’ve planted has been intended to nourish … and on the last day of COP26 and on remembrance day everything we strive to pass on from now on must nourish.
In Kai’s words…
‘See how I don’t say the mess I made or we or they made or even he or she or they made. I say was made. Though nothing felt passive about it.’
What is passed at the end of COP26 is not history, herstory, their story it’s
Our Earthstory
When Shadows Fall ( Little Tiger) Published 11th November. Edited by Mattie Whitehead, Designed by Charlie Moyler. ( Hive Children’s /YA Book of the Month)
And … as we are publishing books using the earth’s resources to do so we must take responsibility ourselves…I am part of steering group in publishing to urge publishers to halve their carbon emissions by 2030 at the latest and achieve net zero by 2040.
‘The earth cannot wait any longer and stories are no longer enough - we are also working for action.’ Piers Torday. (Find out more here.)
Life and art… art and life…
To mark the end of COP26, Seven Stories and Newcastle University are collaborating on Climate Stories, a series of events which explores climate change through the lens of children’s literature. Pairing academic researchers with children’s authors, these events will platform conversations about the climate crisis that centre the impact it has on children and young people’s relationship with the natural world, how they interact with, think, and feel about it. Together, the speakers will explore the significance of literature for younger readers that engages with this critical issue — how it reflects their experiences and opens up new ways of thinking about climate change, with the researcher providing ‘real-world’ expertise and context.
The event is supported by the Vital North Partnership, a strategic agreement between Newcastle University and Seven Stories.
Book here
