The Yorkshire school children aiming to empower women from BAME communities

A team of children from a school in Bradford, have created a new novel with a young woman warrior as its heroine to empowering female BAME students.

Zalfa Emir is a Warrior is a book about a strong female character single-handedly defeating evil forces through sheer determination - and a little bit of magic, which will be the subject of a virtual launch on 23 May.

The work is a collaboration between pupils from Girlington Primary School and Leeds Beckett University.

Lisa Stephenson, one of the project’s leads from the university, said the project started after only four per cent of children’s books published in 2018 included a BAME protagonist, according to recent findings from the reflecting realities report.

“The main aim of the project was to raise confidence in the girls by co-creating a story with them which had characters that they could relate to," she said.

“We wanted to create a story with the girls in which the main protagonist was aspirational, with a strong sense belief in herself."

“All children need to see themselves in the stories that they read, it makes them feel valued.

"There is a lack of stories which represent all children.”

Pupils also worked alongside Dr Tom Dobson, creative writing expert and resident writer at Leeds Beckett, and publisher Ana Arêde.

The Story Makers Press, based within the university's department of education, played a key role in helping pupils shape the characters and bring their story to life.

University students from the team worked closely with female Year 5 pupils to create the new book, including lead author Juwairiyaah Ali, who helped to shape Zalfa’s strong character and story.

She said: "It’s been a brilliant journey. The girls of Girlington had this vibrant energy and imagination which I loved and really wanted to capture in the story.

“Girls of Girlington – you are the warriors."

The project retells a South Asian folktale by working with pupils across eight story building sessions. Interestingly, the female school pupils chose a mixture of comedy and horror as a genre for their story.

Illustrations for the book were completed by university student Leanne Bell and Serina Kulemeka.

Members of the Story Makers Press reported that many of the female pupils stated that they felt more confident about their ideas during the making of the story.

Muniba, a pupil from Girlington Primary School, said: “I think it’s about no right and no wrong, In Story Makers you can do whatever you want, it’s a story you can make.

“If you think of an idea you can just say it out loud, you don’t think that this isn’t a good idea. In class you have to stick to the theme that you’re doing, but in our Story Makers we do whatever idea we like.

“It’s also really fun, because you get to express your feelings and not everybody gets to have a chance to do this.”

Further announcements in the lead up to the virtual launch will be made on the Story Makers Company website here.

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