Special Guest Northern Highlight - Mairi Kidd, Seven Stories

 SPECIAL GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT

Mairi Kidd, Seven Stories - The National Centre for Children's Books

Perhaps you could start by giving us a potted history of Seven Stories. 

When did you start up?

Seven Stories was founded as a charity in 1996 by Elizabeth Hammill OBE and Mary Briggs OBE. They recognised that Britain needed an institution whose mission was to collect, champion and celebrate its children's literature. They believed that it should be founded in a place where it could make a real difference to the children and families living nearby, knowing that early experience of books and stories is vital to childhood development and raising aspiration.

In the 1990s the original manuscripts and illustrations of some of Britain's influential authors were being sold to overseas collectors and institutions. There was nowhere in Britain that saw its role as protector of our literary heritage for children. Mary and Elizabeth set out, with the help of many authors, illustrators, publishers, teachers and librarians, to found such a national centre for children's books. In 2002 the charity purchased a building in the Ouseburn Valley, an area of cultural regeneration about ½ mile from Newcastle's city centre. The seven storied Victorian building is listed but was semi-derelict at the time of purchase and needed substantial repair to make it fit for thousands of visitors. Seven Stories was opened to the public by Children's Laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt on 19th August 2005. National status was awarded at the end of 2012 through Arts Council England's accreditation scheme, recognising excellence in caring for literary heritage and engaging visitors in children's literature through the quality of exhibitions, events and learning programmes. And finally, in 2020, Seven Stories celebrated its 15th birthday!

Tell us about where you are in Newcastle.

Seven Stories is housed in a converted Victorian warehouse in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne. The building offers visitors seven floors of galleries, creative spaces, a specialist independent children's bookshop and a café to explore. The Ouseburn is one of the most vibrant creative communities that exists in the North East and its sheer eclecticism is its selling point. By day, it's home to a city farm, the UK's largest independent commercial gallery, a leading printmaking space, a preserved 19th-century waggonway, and - of course - The National Centre of Children's Books. By night, its a place to experience live music and explore a string of pubs and breweries. It's an exciting place; one that nods towards its rich industrial heritage whilst being firmly rooted in regeneration, future change and creativity.

Seven Stories activity also extends into communities and schools across the UK through a wide range schools programmes, touring exhibitions and outreach projects.

A Seven Stories 'Story Catcher' storytelling in their magical attic space

What are your aims for Seven Stories?

My overarching aim for Seven Stories is to make sure the amazing work of the organisation reaches many more children and families, writers and illustrators working today and the storytellers of the future, inspiring them to navigate the world with imagination, empathy and curiosity. Our children's literature is one of the UK's treasures and we shout about it so little; in many ways it's the Cinderella of the book world. I can't wait to help fly the flag.

The Seven Stories building

What for you is the 'spirit of the North'?

As a Scottish person, that sounds to me like a marketing slogan for a whisky company! I would query the idea of there being one 'spirit of the North' in the first place - I think that could be quite reductive. The North - which as defined by this blog includes a big swathe of England and the whole country of Scotland - is a hugely diverse place. Culturally, linguistically, socially, politically - does Shetland have the same 'spirit' as Sheffield? I'm not sure. Is the North static, or does it continually evolve to welcome new communities, respond to political and social realities and engage in the same way as we all do with global culture from our own local perspectives? l think it does. I am a little worried the question comes from a desire to parcel the North up for marketing purposes - back to the whisky slogan - and I don't think the North needs pigeonholing in that way. If the book world thinks it does, I would politely suggest the book world could do better...

Who for you are the great Northern writers or illustrators?

I love Alan Garner's writing and in particular The Owl Service - which rather goes to illustrate my point about not pigeonholing the North, given that it's a fantasy with a solid grounding in Welsh politics and mythology. David Almond is an author who shows us over and over that a solid grounding in place is no barrier to soaring vision. Anthony McGowan is another favourite, as is Phil Earle and Melvin Burgess - I've had the privilege of publishing all three of them in my time (and David too). I've also published Chris Mould, whose work I love - give me an inky black, hand-drawn line and a dollop of Gothic any day. In picture books, I love Cat Rayner, who is a member of the same print studio in Edinburgh as me and any time I'm in I hold my breath in hope I might spot some of her work on the drying racks.

David Almond in his retrospective exhibition held at Seven Stories

You're a big voice for children's books in the North. Why is it so important that we continue to promote children's publishing in the North?

I think that's a simple question of equality of opportunity and diversity of voice. Publishing as an industry has a global centre of gravity in London and for that reason and others, there is a tendency for the vast majority of opportunities to be clustered there. That's a barrier in many ways - because London is a vastly expensive place to live, because it can be challenging for many people in other ways (the Tube on a wheelchair, anyone?) and because fundamentally it doesn't follow that in order to be involved in the business of telling stories people should want to leave their own communities and go somewhere else. And expecting everyone to converge in one place is not, I would suggest, in any way conducive to representing diversity of experience on the page.

What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North?

The same things I'd like to see from all publishing. Creative risk-taking - a belief in books rather than brands. A commitment to diversity of voice, which goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to supporting writers properly. And a commitment to reaching more readers. A fairly large wish-list that challenges many of the accepted ways of doing things in the industry, I know!

You can find out more about Seven Stories at Seven Stories | The National Centre for Children's Books and on Twitter and Instagram

You can follow Mairi on Twitter