A unique opportunity for emerging children’s writers of colour to attend a workshop at the Roman Baths, and write a Roman story that will reach thousands of young readers!
Did you know that people from all over the world lived and thrived together in Roman Britain? From the wealthy Ivory Bangle lady who may have been an early Christian, to the African legions stationed on Hadrian’s Wall and the Syrian-origin man called Barates who married a British freedwoman, to the North African emperor Septimius Severus who died in York: inspiration for exciting stories of migration is everywhere. Roman history really is everybody’s history!
Our Roman Stories is a writer talent development project, in partnership with the world-famous Roman Baths and Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People. It runs from autumn 2026 to summer 2027.
Megaphone founder Leila Rasheed based her novel Empire’s End, for older readers, on her experience growing up in Libya and exploring the ruins of ancient Greek and Roman cities like Cyrene.… then travelling to Yorkshire, exactly the same journey Camilla makes in the book.
- Ten emerging children’s writers of colour, selected on merit of a short writing sample, will get to explore the collections and site of the Roman Baths.
- On 14th November 2026 they will take part in a day of writing workshops together with writers from Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People, designed to inspire them to write a short story set in a realistically diverse Roman world.
- In summer 2027 they will have their short stories published on the Roman Baths learning hub and promoted to schools who visit, reaching thousands of readers.
- There will be opportunities to bring the stories to child readers through the British Festival of Archaeology and a home education day at the museum.
- More information is coming soon as we develop this project to be even more exciting! In the meantime, if you’re interested, please register below and we will contact you with updates.
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