A secondary school teacher who has worked to nurture young poets at her school has won the Orwell Prize for political writing.
Kate Clanchy, whose memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, draws on her experience as an educator in the state school system in London, Scotland and Essex, won the prize, which aims to reflect George Orwell’s ambition of making “political writing into an art”.
Ms Clanchy has previously published a collection of poetry written by pupils at her school, Oxford Spires Academy - England: Poems from a School, and she has championed poetry as a way of giving a voice to marginalised pupils, including pupils who are refugees. Pupils from the academy have gone on to win national poetry prizes and awards.
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However, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me focuses on wider political issues, such as the effects of the British class system on educational outcomes, as well as the impacts of selection through church and grammar schools.
In her acceptance speech, Ms Clanchy said that she hoped the award would “mean something for other teachers, because if there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s that teachers are very important and very necessary and that schools are communities, and without them, we rip big holes in our societies.”
“Clanchy’s reflections on teaching and the stories of her students are moving, funny, full of love and offer sparkling insights into modern British society,” the judges said.
This means so much to me as a writer and as a teacher. https://t.co/eC7J9P0bCW
- Kate Clanchy (@KateClanchy1) July 9, 2020
