Once upon a time, in a far-off country, the British Council set off on a great adventure. The year was 2001, and the adventure was the launch of an arts project designed to introduce contemporary UK writers and themes to younger Jordanian audiences. The adventure involved hundreds of young people who were encouraged to read, discuss the work of a diverse range of key writers, and to become involved in the creative process themselves, both by being given the opportunity to witness writers in action and also by being given the chance to participate in creative writing sessions.

In our first year of writers' visits in 2000 we had invited university students and lecturers, students from the Teaching Centre, teachers and a few stalwart lovers of literature who had been our audience in previous years for other literature events. This first project told the tale of the ethnic diversity of the visiting writers and the consequent enrichment of the UK contemporary literary scene. Before the arrival of the UK-based Grenadian writer, Jacob Ross, we were inspired to target his visit at a younger adult audience, as we had been so struck by the fact that a number of his finest stories deal with themes likely to appeal to teenagers, such as young people travelling abroad to study and the dynamics within extended families. Interest in hosting Jacob from schools was so enthusiastic that one school made room for nine others during its session. Numbers were limited to 60, and the invitation was extended to only upper school students, 14 – 18 year olds.

Our approach to writers' visits had been to run lead-in sessions which introduced the work, and talked a bit about the writer, before their arrival so that the audience had a starting point for any discussion that followed the reading. As there was no time to do a lead-in session before Jacob's visit, we sent out some copies of one of his short stories with a lesson plan on how students might be introduced to the work as part of their English language class. Although this seemed a little patronising, experience as a teacher trainer had shown me how reluctant teachers could be to using literary texts in the language lesson. The lesson plan was offered as an optional guide and some teachers used it as it was, while others adapted it to the needs of their students.

The result of the teachers' work and the students' interest was evident in Jacob's first session. The audience was extremely attentive and asked thought-provoking and challenging questions. Their interest in the creative process was immense. Students too shy to approach Jacob during the event, lingered behind to talk to him about his work and their dreams. As a regular tutor at the Arvon Centre (a UK-based organisation aimed at developing creative writing skills), Jacob’s ability to encourage and develop young writers is well grounded. Both Catriona Ferguson from the British Council's Literature Department and myself felt that it was the most exciting session we had seen. As the Head of English of the host school pointed out: 'It's unheard of for these students to have forgotten their break!'

Building on this success, we asked all of the subsequent writers that visited that year (Romesh Gunesekera who was visiting as part of the Man Booker Prize celebration and Levi Tafari and Brian Patten, Liverpool performance poets) to give sessions for young people. Before Romesh's visit we sent a pack of information to the schools with samples of his work and information on the Man Booker, including a list of websites. At question time, some students had done their homework so well there were few questions on the prize that they didn't already have the answers to. They also examined Romesh closely on his life and work. Although he passed the test, he faced some unexpected and difficult questions.  

When we asked Brian Patten if he'd like to do some performances with young people we had another surprise. Brian suggested that we arrange something for 'around 200 children between the ages of six and nine'. Almost 400 children turned up at the newly opened theatre in the municipal building in Jordan. Those who have seen Brian perform will not be surprised to know that his audience were rapt. But those of us who had doubts that children from government schools might have problems with the language found that they were enchanted and even inspired enough to ask questions. On subsequent visits, all our writers were cajoled into working with young people, but we saved the sessions for very young people for our next project.

Storyteller Denis Bond

The 2001 programme was on 'Writing For Young People'. The combination of Levi Tafari and Brian Patten had brought the largest audience ever to the British Council library, so we decided to repeat the formula for the first young people’s event. Michael Morpurgo, the current Children's Laureate, and Denis Bond, creator of the Munch Bunch, though different in approach and style, share a sensitivity to children's enthusiasms and concerns. Not only did they perform and entertain, but they also listened and taught. Their encouragement meant that sessions often included spontaneous creative writing lessons. After their visit, one of the eight-year olds had his mother make some business cards for him with the profession: violinist and author.

Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate

Michael's visit also forged a connection between development and arts in Jordan when he gave a talk about his charity 'Farms for City Children' (based at his home in Devon) at the invitation of the Family Protection Unit. What I learned of patience and concern during the visit of these two writers affected our project. We were impatient to involve a wider audience and as the programme developed it was extended to include children from refugee schools.

Beverley Naidoo had just won the Carnegie medal for The Other Side of Truth. This story of refugee children spoke directly to some of the young people we knew. We included in her itinerary a visit to a local United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency school for children of Palestinian refugees. After a discussion of the Diaspora caused by the apartheid system in South Africa and the struggles of Nelson Mandela, among the questions asked was one Beverley carried back to the UK with her: Is Justice asleep, or is it only sleeping? Who will wake up Justice? Her article in the Times Educational Supplement in November of that year describes the event.

Writers' visits have the important role of helping to illustrate the links between language, literature and culture to teachers in Jordanian schools. Jacob Ross returned and in joint sponsorship with a local Arts Centre, Darat al Funun, gave creative writing sessions to students from schools and British Council students during a two-week stay in September 2001. We offered teachers further proof of these links when we invited Berlie Docherty, twice winner of the Carnegie Medal, to be the keynote speaker at the joint British Council National Orthodox School Symposium ELT event in March 2002. More than 200 teachers attended the two-day event. Its theme, suggested by its local organiser, Ms May Gussous, was creative writing.

The ending of the story is still to be written. The learning experience of these writers' visits suggests that young people are hungry to know about different lives and cultures. Where are these experiences better expressed than in the work of our contemporary writers? I see Bernard MacLaverty, while talking to a group of eager young people in a Jordanian school, suddenly stage an unscripted creative writing session with them – kind of gut response to their response to him. From this programme we have learnt that young enthusiastic students inspire their teachers.

We have also learnt that local teachers are keen to have the skills to create an environment where learning can take place. In spring 2003, the British Council Teaching Centre in Jordan offered the British Council Literature Course. Organised by Chris Rose in Naples as part of our ELT new products, this course links canonical traditions and contemporary UK literature. Of the 19 participants in the course, 17 were teachers of English language who wanted to teach literature and creative writing.

Finally, the terrible and inspiring Miss Jean Brodie says: 'Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life' (Murial Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). If part of our brief is to show contemporary UK in all its diversity and splendour to young people of other cultures, let us invite the artists who can paint that picture best.