The book was launched at The Maltings theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed during Berwick Literary Festival in October 2024. Since then it has begun to find a wider audience.
Book cover credit: Fogbank.co.uk
A new book on difficult conversations, written by teenagers from Berwick Academy, is captivating the minds and hearts of readers across the country, with people describing it as engaging, surprising and beautifully presented.
“Some of the students’ work is moving, some of it is amusing, and all of it reflects what it’s like to be young and learning to navigate relationships."
The poems and stories of difficult conversations by the students at the high school in Berwick has people reflecting on how these conversations have shaped their own lives and those around them.
The book, entitled To the Heart of Difficult Conversations, began as a commission by Berwick Literary Festival and local storyteller Chris Adriaanse, funded by Create Berwick.
The inspiration was a small plaque on one of the houses in historic Berwick-upon-Tweed that spoke about two tense meetings of kings and nobles from England and Scotland in the late 1200s.
“The theme was a way of engaging young people in the local history,” said Chris Adriaanse, who worked with the teachers while also researching the plaque. “The topic of difficult conversations was something that could bridge that gap and gave the students the freedom to explore what mattered to them.”
Chris Adriaanse
As a project spanning multiple subjects, the students in Year 9 (ages 13 to 14) worked on the project first in history classes and then in English classes. The result was a range of poems, short sagas and drama scripts on “difficult conversations”, with the best entries included in the book. The book was designed by Berwick-based artist Anna Parker, inspired by the handwritten entries, and also includes a history of the plaque in addition to several folktales.
Festival Director, Andrew Deuchar, said: “The students work has been profoundly moving and surprising, demonstrating what happens when you allow students to express themselves freely. One of the responsibilities under the UN Charter of the Rights of Children is to ensure that the voices of young people are heard. This project clearly and proudly supports that.”
The book was launched at The Maltings theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed during Berwick Literary Festival in October 2024 and has begun to find a wider audience.
Ben Ryder, Assistant Headteacher at Berwick Academy said: “The project allowed our students to explore both their creativity and an important period of our local history. The book serves as a lasting reminder of their contributions.”
As for the research into the plaque, it turned out that there was little based on historical evidence. “There remains a bit of a mystery surrounding the plaque in ‘Parliament Square’ in Tweedmouth as the current historic evidence does not back up the claims,” said Cllr Georgina Hill, county councillor for Berwick East, who raised awareness of the plaque in 2023. “This has been an excellent project for our young people to get involved with and Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal has plenty more fascinating history to explore.”
The Tweedmouth Plaque
The book is available to purchase online. All profits will go to the festival for their schools programme for 2025.
Create Berwick
The project was funded by Create Berwick, a programme for cultural regeneration that is investing around £1.5m in Berwick-upon-Tweed over 5 years until 2027.
Funding is provided by Northumberland County Council and North East Combined Authority. The book project was part of the Living Heritage programme that aims to celebrate Berwick’s local traditions and heritage by commissioning Berwick-based creatives to make artwork about, with and for local people.
“This is exactly what we want Create Berwick funding to do,” said Andrea Oliver, Culture & Creative Zone Manager, who oversees the fund. “This will hopefully create more opportunities for the creative sector and residents to work together.”
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