The Sydney Story Factory is inspired by novelist Dave Eggers’s hugely successful 826 Valencia in the US. In 2002, Eggers opened a tutoring centre attached to his publishing company in San Francisco. To comply with zoning laws, the centre also had to sell something, so it included a Pirate Supply Store, stocking everything the working buccaneer needs: peg legs, wooden planks, eye patches.
The shop became an integral part of the operation, providing a child-friendly street-front, and soon generating revenue too. The model was so successful that 826 went national, and seven more centres have opened across the US, each with its own shop. In London in 2010, novelist Nick Hornby opened The Ministry of Stories, behind Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.
The Sydney Story Factory will bring the model to Australia for the first time, adapting it to local needs. The shop will be The Martian Embassy and Gift Shop, and it will sell everything a child needs for space travel and interplanetary exploration.
The Sydney Story Factory plans to open in Redfern in early 2012, but is already running pilot programs at Tempe Public and Our Lady of Mt Carmel, in Waterloo. It ran very successful two-hour workshops in June, where every child left with his or her own bound and illustrated book, with a photo of the author on the back.
Nearly all tutoring at the Sydney Story Factory is done by volunteers, and nearly 600 people have asked to help out. It has the support of writers including Markus Zusak, Malcolm Knox, Deborah Adelaide, Peter FitzSimons and Anna Funder.
The Sydney Story Factory will improve children’s writing skills, and increase their confidence with language. More importantly, by publishing their work in as many ways as we can, they will show these children that what they think and imagine matters. They will open new paths for them into the future.
They need your help to get our doors open. Donate now at www.sydneystoryfactory.org.au.
But first watch this extraordinary video clip
Top Comments
I love this so much!!! Story writing with kids is the most magical journey you can take. I am a grade three teacher and it is the aspect of my job that I just love the best. I think this is the most fantastic idea. I live in Peru and would love to investigate setting something like that up here as the general level of education is very low and there are so many kids that are disaffected from their learning.
Helping children to latch on to their creativity is such an exciting process. I love getting silly with them and making up different things. Our school is on two different campuses and I recently told my kids that the traffic in Lima is so bad that the headmaster is going to build an underground connection between the two schools - we came up with a whole lot of ideas for how they could set it up including undeground sling shots, bob sleds, boats, waterslides and made a proposal with the pros and cons of each listed.
It is such a shame that the curriculum is so packed full and there are so many demands on us that we rarely have the time to really develop their creativity on a consistent basis.
I salute everyone involved in this - it is such a positive and wonderful thing to be involved in.
I love this. Goose bumps. I'm donating now.