Once upon a time, three thousand two hundred and fifty six miles across the Atlantic Ocean in Brooklyn, New York, you’ll find a curious shop with some very special ‘customers’. You see it was there, in The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store where our very own story begins.
Beyond the facade of the store you’ll find 826NYC, one of nine creative writing and after-school tutoring centres that make up the 826 National Network which was founded back in 2002 in San Francisco by award-winning author, Dave Eggers and veteran educator Ninive Calegari. Their goal? “To encourage the exploration of endless possibility through the power of writing”.
Fast forward to 2015, The Invisible Lady (aka Maxine Sloss) flew all three thousand and more miles to the aforementioned Superhero Supply Store for a whistle stop lesson in how to start your own 826-inspired organisation by Gerald Richards, CEO of the brilliant 826 National Network and his team.
Maxine was flabbergasted. Her invisible jaw fell to the floor when she learnt how thousands of young people across the United States had discovered their passion for creative writing with the help of the Network. She took many many very scribbly notes. Invisible ink of course.
Keen as mustard to bring such a fun and inspiring project home to Scotland, Maxine started the Super Power Agency and just a few months later in 2017 invited Gerald and his colleague Kait over to sunny Edinburgh (jokes it was absolutely not sunny) to deliver some 826NYC magic to a very excited bunch of SPA supporters, donors and volunteers at Leith Academy.
Just as Maxine had hoped ~slash~ planned *insert invisible cackle here*, Gerald not only fell in love with the enthusiasm of the wonderful volunteers and teachers but was also completely enchanted by our bonnie Edinburgh who catfished him with the most beautiful crisp, sunshiney days.
Naturally, to celebrate the success of the training and the weather, non-invisible pints were had in the cosiest pub in town where Maxine declared, “I need a Director for our newly formed Super Power Agency. I mean, where would one find one?” Looking around, she declared again, “Gerald? Can you think of anyyyyyone, who would be suitable to head up our exciting new organisation?”. Little did she know that Gerald himself was looking for a new adventure and so, threw his wooly hat in the ring (much to Maxine’s delight) and in the summer of 2018 he moved the three thousand two hundred and fifty six miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Brooklyn, New York to Scotland where he officially joined the Super Power Agency as CEO and honorary Edinburger.
The Super Power Agency has now worked with a whopping 3,000 young people with workshops across 17 schools in the with the help of their 200+ volunteers. They have published 20 brilliant books written by Edinburgh’s young people. And as more and more schools reach out for the support of the SPA, the opportunity to introduce even more young people to a future of confidence in creative writing is almost far too exciting to think about. Right?
The End (it’s never the end).
P.S. The next chapter has your name on it.