Friday, 19th March 2021
Alex Wheatle: free to download teaching resource and Q&A film for schools
Find out more about the author's work whose story was featured in the BBC's 'Small Axe' series
Following his life story being celebrated as part of the Steve McQueen ‘Small Axe’ series on the BBC, award-winning writer, we produced a Teaching Resource that brought together aspects of Alex’s work. This includes links to the BBC schools resources, links to essays and filmed recordings of Alex talking about his YA books, and suggests ways in which students aged 12-18, might engage with Alex’s work.
Following questions sent in from some of the schools who engaged with this resource, Alex invited colleagues from Manchester Met, with whom he had worked on schools outreach projects, to join him to record a Schools Q&A event. This wide-ranging, honest and inspiring interview touches on issues of racism, politics, history, injustice, the Black Lives Matter movement and the important role that storytelling can have in re-writing, re-presenting and re-telling our Histories. The interview, with Alex in conversation with his Manchester Centre for Youth Studies colleague, Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley from the Department of English and lecturer in Slavery and American History Dr Marie Molloy from the Department of History, Politics and Philosophy at Manchester Met University was premiered on the Manchester Writing School’s You Tube channel on March 17th and can be viewed below.
Alex’s commitment to inspiring young people is unending and he is still keen to hear any questions or comments that they may have about any of his work. The film and the resource will be relevant and of interest to students of any age, 12-adult. Alex is incredibly honest and open in his responses to questions and the film covers his YA writing (from the Crongton series through to his historical slave narrative ‘Cane Warriors’), his life experiences (from his time in care, through to prison and as a celebrated writer and family man) and his opinions about recent events relating to the Black Lives Matter movement. Even the Royal Family get a mention!
Additional resources and information:
- Details about Alex’s work with Manchester Centre for Youth Studies
- About the YA Book Club that Chloe and Alex worked on
- Links to the conference talks and workshops from the PAC75 (Pan African Congress 75th anniversary) celebrations
Email Kaye Tew k.tew@mmu.ac.uk for further detail about any of the above.
