Young people’s writing

Abstract

The writing of young people in London expanded significantly in the 1970s and 1980s. A number of key strands can be identified: the work produced around Stepney Words and the school strike leading to work on youth culture; the writing of migrants who reflected on past and present; and three longer pieces of autobiography and novels. The ways in which these young people engaged with writing revealed links to wider literary models as well as an ambiguous sense of self. Overall, it poses challenges for our understanding of the history of childhood and assumptions about maturity. Distinctions between the learning of young people and adult education revealed considerable overlap rather than a sharp distinction.