Spotlight on Young Voices
Top LtR: Mya-Rose Craig, Dara McAnulty, Malizah. Bottom LtR: Caitlyn Bannatyne, Elle McNicoll
The Reading is Magic Festival line-up brings together some of the very best authors and illustrators from all around the world. This week, we’re shining a light on a few of the younger voices who will be speaking at the festival. We hope that you’ll be inspired by hearing their stories. Many of them have faced challenges but have not let these stop them achieving their goals.
Dara McAnulty is 16 years old and lives with his family in County Down in Northern Ireland. He is a conservationist, an activist and an award-winning writer. Dara’s Diary of a Young Naturalist, which he started when he was just 14, has just won the 2020 Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing and Dara is also the youngest ever finalist for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction. He writes about living with autism and the pleasures of immersing himself in the natural world. He also talks movingly about overcoming his fears and anxiety to keep clear the goals he wants to achieve. Hear more from this inspiring naturalist at 1.30pm on Tuesday 29 September here.
Mya-Rose Craig, also known as Birdgirl is an 18-year- old ornithologist and equal rights campaigner who lives in the beautiful Chew Valley in Somerset. She has been a bird watcher all her life and believes that nature should be available to all people to enjoy. She says as a British Bangladeshi girl she was aware that there was no-one in the countryside like her, so she started Black2Nature UK, of which she is president, to campaign for racial equality in nature. Mya-Rose is a record-breaking bird watcher who has travelled all over the world and in February she received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Bristol. She is also an Ambassador for Survival International, a global charity which works to protect tribes and indigenous people. Listen to Mya-Rose in an inspiring event ‘Why We Need to Protect Our Planet’ at 1.30pm on Tuesday 29 September here.
Malizah is a young creative, activist and poet from Bristol. She is part of Rising Arts Bristol, a group dedicated to mobilising for social change. One of her poems was featured as part of a citywide billboard diversity campaign. She was also a presenter of 1020 Radio in August and performs her poetry collection, Hustle and Heal, on Facebook. Malizah is in conversation with Scottish model, writer and activist Eunice Olumide on Wednesday 30 September, 2pm, in which they discuss the black curriculum and talk about the people who have influenced their lives and work here.
Caitlyn Bannatyne is a 22-year-old Scottish illustrator who loves both long-form fiction and comics and graphic novels. She is passionate about storytelling through art and believes the genre should be more diverse and inclusive. She also advocates meeting fellow comic book fans as this is a welcoming community. Watch Caitlyn and hear her recommendations for graphic novels on Monday 28 September at 1.30pm here.
Rakaya Fetuga is a writer, poet and workshop facilitator from London whose work takes inspiration from black feminist writers and Islamic Sufi poets. Her poems are featured in Letters to the Earth and SLAM: You're Gonna Wanna Hear This! Rakaya holds an English and Creative Writing BA and Fiction Writing MA from Royal Holloway, University of London. She won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam in 2018 and, as a Resident Artist, went on to write and produce a monodrama Unbraided. She is currently working on her first novel. Hear Rakaya speak as part of Letters to the Earth on Tuesday 29 September at 9.15am here
Elle McNicoll is the 27 year old creator of Addie, an 11 year old Scottish autistic girl who is the central character in her book A Kind of Spark, which was published this summer. Elle believes we should be able to see ourselves in books and is part of the own voices movement which promotes writers writing about their own life experiences. Listen to Elle talking on Wednesday 30 September at 9.15am.
Micah Lees is an 18 year old full time college student in the arts and previous HNC childcare student. Micah’s accomplishments include performing two shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and taking part in writing short stories for a queer anthology. Micah values student led working and mutual respect and uses this when practising as a learning assistant and hopes to further this during studies in theatre. Outside of work, Micah enjoys taking care of two cats Mossball and Bug, singing and writing. Hear Micah interviewing Steven Camden on Monday 28 September at 9.45am here
These are just a few of the inspiring young voices speaking at Reading is Magic Festival. To browse the full line-up, please click here.