This Was A Tree: A Brilliant Books Anthology...with Nottingham Free School

by Phil Pidluznyj

Welcome to This Was a Tree, the latest book produced by the students of Nottingham Free School. This is now our fifth Brilliant Books anthology with NFS, and our ninth in total. Once again, the students have risen to the occasion and met the deadline for publication (most of them at least!), producing a collection of stories and poetry. It’s a remarkable achievement on behalf of the students to create this work in such a short space of time and on top of their school work. The young writers featured here are from Years 7 and 8 and we have retained the spirit of their work with minimal editing. Massive thanks once more go to my friend and collaborator Mark Barry for his input and great humour throughout the entire course, and for editing this book. My thanks are also extended to our guests Lucy Kong for yet another wonderful bespoke cover design which was created with input from the children, and to local short story writer Nick McCaffrey for the story he wrote especially for his session. I am also indebted to Hannah Stevens for her mentoring and proofreading support. So, what can you expect from This Was A Tree? As ever you will find an eclectic mix of prose and poetry. Included are thoughtful dystopian fiction, humour, flash fiction, Haiku poetry, and much more. Our writers have been encouraged to write in their own style and have followed a creative writing syllabus for twelve weeks. They were also encouraged to not be afraid to break rules; to challenge accepted norms. Some weeks have been challenging, others have been hilarious. It’s important to note that this is not an English language course. Our work is additional to the school’s curriculum. The course itself has covered so much I won’t attempt to cover it in a brief paragraph, but Harry Potter featured far more than anyone would think possible! I would like to thank Bethan Inglis for her support and belief in Brilliant Books, Phil Cleveley for generously vacating his classroom every Monday to accommodate us, and the Headteacher, Jenny Brown, for allowing us the opportunity to continue working in her school. If you enjoy reading “Tree” then I recommend you search out our earlier NFS anthologies, details of which are available elsewhere in the book. I am delighted that all proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to Empleo’s work with socially marginalised communities to provide support and essential daily items for those who are most in need. Phil Pidluznyj Brilliant Books Course Tutor and Director, Empleo Community Interest Company November 2018

65 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2018