'Free Loaves on Friday' editor, Rebekah Pierre, answers your questions!

In our previous issue of Scoop, one of our young people Lizzie wrote a review of the amazing book Free Loaves on Fridays which we managed to send to the books very own editor, Rebekah Pierre. She loved the review so much she agreed to be interviewed by Lizzie and Alex - who together had the idea of creating our very own Norfolk version of the book. What follows is an incredibly inspiring conversation. They talk everything from writing and growing up through the care system, to why it's so important to be the author of our own stories. Below are some highlights from the interview.

Rebekah: Can I just ask, how did you two find out about Free Loaves on Fridays (FLOF)? 

Lizzie: So, I was a part of, well I still am, a part of the charity in London called the Children's Society and the CEO of the Children's Society gave me your book with a little note in it. He had your book and gave it to me, and I basically spoke to you (Sufia) about it didn't I. 

Alex: You kind of told us all about. 

Sufia: We were in an interview panel up here, and then you were like there's this book called "Free Loaves on Fridays" and I was like what's it about and you said, and Alex was like "we should do our own!" 

And then it started to set off things, staff have been talking about it as well and they read out one of the excerpts from it at a recent corporate parenting board workshop. It's almost felt like a call to action to help this grow a bit more. 

Lizzie: How long have you been a writer and what inspired you to write FLOF? 

Rebekah: So how the book came about, I'll be really honest, I didn't want anything to do with it at the start. So, I'd written an article for the guardian and i was writing about the care system and then an editor from a publisher got in touch and said you've written about the care system would you be interested in putting together an anthology on this. 

And the title, comes from - so have you heard of unregulated accommodation?  

Lizzie and Alex: Yes, I've heard of it yeah. 

Rebekah: So, I lived in that as a teenager it was like a very run-down kind of place. It's a kind of hostile vibes and then every Friday we'd get a donation of bread. Every single week it would be the same stale kind of thick slice white loaf. Not a lot of nutritional value and I just remember thinking at first, I was so grateful for this loaf of bread every day. Cos you know as you'll know when you're in care or a care leaver you don't have a lot of money. And as time went by, I started to think I just wish someone would give us a choice for once and ask us well what kind of bread you would want rather than just giving us the leftovers. So, this is all a very long-winded way of saying this book is about giving care experienced people the choice if not about bread, then about the way that we tell our stories. That felt like a massive podcast answer.   

Alex: What was some of the most rewarding aspects of work and how did they inspire to continue in this field?  

Rebekah: The most rewarding part for me was seeing the people who would never normally have their words in print published for the first time which was incredible. The publishing world, there's a massive glass ceiling, people who are very middle class who have been to private schools are the ones who see their names in print. And it's so rewarding to see in the book ... we do have people like Lemn Sissay who are like famous care experienced people who have written their own books which is amazing. But we also have people who left schools with no GCSE's. We have one contributor who literally wrote their entry when they were in the bath when they were like 15. So basically, I think to see names in print that wouldn't usually be there. 

Lizzie: What do you hope young readers or those new to social work will take away from the book?  

Rebekah: I think firstly for social workers to not form judgments about us, don't judge us based on what is in our files. Get to know us and hear us because you know we're so often written about in assessments and reports but we're so rarely the author of our own words. So it would be that. It would be chuck out any ideas of stereotypes. Because we're not all the same. People come from care from many different walks of life. Many different backgrounds. There are people from every social class, culture, gender identity, don't just tar us with one brush.    

I think as well to humanise us. I think people see us as pity or stigma. I hope it just makes us seem more human and more like everyone else. And to children and young people I would say know that you are absolutely not alone. I remember I didn't actually - I wasn't anywhere near as smart as you two. I didn't join any care leavers groups or anything when I'd left care and I didn't actually meet another care experienced person once I'd left when I was in my mid-twenties. So I felt very very alone during that time very isolated. So just to say you're not on your own and take heart, take courage.  

Look at the inspiring stories in the book and see who you could become and that there is hope. And challenge stuff and know your rights!  

Alex: You know it's very interesting you said that as an answer, because I guarantee you that right now any group we go to, these are the things that are at the top of the list. Literally it's interesting that you're an older generation than us, and we're still hearing it from people who are in care, leaving care and people who have just gone into care. It's a real interesting one to hear through generations it hasn't changed...  

Rebekah: I know it's so upsetting to think that there has been so little change but on the same coin, you two being here are examples of change because you're doing stuff.

I think I just let life pass me by for time. I didn't even know I was care experienced until my twenties because I kind of shelved it away. 

Alex: Our Participation Manager (Karla) always tells us our care experience is our superpower, and not to hide it away. 

Rebekah: I love that! 

Alex: How do you hope FLOF will impact the public perspective on social care and the individuals who work within the system? 

Rebekah: That is an absolutely on fire question I just want to say. I hope that it'll influence the way we're written about in care files. Because there's so much in the book that is about language and how we're spoken about. There are letters in the book to foster carers, teachers, MPS, politicians. And there's too many recommendations to go into now, but I hope that politicians will see the message about why it's important to fund the sector. And that teachers will see the message about why it's important not to exclude or discriminate against care leavers and to give them support and to understand that challenging behaviour goes a lot deeper and there's usually you know trauma or something else going on. I hope it lets the public knows it's not us versus them. I think sometimes people think that being in care is something that happens to other people or other people's families but actually all of us are only like one significant life event away from being in care or from having to need the system ourselves. I hope it gives the message that care experienced people are capable. I think sometimes it's a bit patronising when a Local Authority might want to work with young people or they'll say come and sit in our panel or do our feedback form and it's all designed by the Local Authority.

But this is an example where care experienced people did everything literally from editing, to designing the front cover...   

Lizzie: What is your favourite part about being a writer and what advice would you give to younger writers?  

Rebekah: I love this question. I think...I can express myself a lot more clearly when I've got time and space and there's no noise and there's no pressure you know if you're just talking you can feel on the spot but there's something about writing where you have 100% control over every single word and I really love that. I love that there's no rules, it's very therapeutic to have your say  so for example when I've written the open letter for the book or when I wrote about my experience in foster care, it felt very empowering to be "like this is my experience and I want to put that out into the world."   

As for advice, firstly I would throw out any rules that you've been given by teachers or anything. I had an awful English teacher who was like wanting me to go down a certain path, didn't believe in me, and then all these years later I'm an author, I'd written for the guardian... Forget any shred of negativity you might have picked up from school,  I think use your authentic voice as well. Don't overthink it.

The most impactful writing comes from a place of deep emotion. So next time you're feeling really annoyed or really inspired, let yourself be moved by that emotion.

I would say as well, self-care as well so I know it's really obvious, but sometimes when you're writing psychologically it takes you back to a place. You know you might remember things you'd forgotten about. So just you know take breaks, make sure you know you go for walks, or make sure you've got something that's grounding you. So, for example, on my desk it's really silly I have a little house... and it just reminds me that I was without a home at different points in my life. But it's different now I have a home I'm safe I'm grounded. So having a visual reminder on your desk to keep you in the present.   

And the other thing is, there's a technique called free-writing. Which is where you literally sit down, you time yourself and you just pour whatever words come out of your head straight onto the page without thinking about it too much. And i think that's really powerful because sometimes it's like where do I start? What's the perfect sentence? So yeah, free-writing is a great technique! 

Alex: And for the last question, what future project or initiatives are you working on that continues the themes that are explored in the book?  

Rebekah: Absolutely zero! So I heard this question and I was like wow yeah this can't be the end there needs to be something else. A lot of people have said they can't wait for the sequel. To which I thought if there's gonna be a sequel someone else can be the editor because I can't do this again it was too much time without a social life!  

I would really love in an ideal world to maybe work with a film director or a TV producer or maybe someone who writes plays to bring some of the accounts in the book to life that would be amazing.

If I had a TV crew which I don't...  

Sufia: I thought about this! FLOF needs to be a series or film. Because it's so visual. It reminds me of Steve McQueen's Small Axe.  Did you ever watch his visual anthology of the West Indian community? The third episode is about Alex Wheatle who is care experienced and he's involved in the Brixton riots. But it's so visual, when I was reading it I was like if I was a producer I'd be emailing you now. Because also things like that travel as much as words. See what the postal service tv series did where it basically opened up so much in law. This so needs to be on screens.   

Rebekah: I'm manifesting it. The universe let it happen! I'm not really like a spiritual person but I very welcome FLOF being made into a play or TV series that would be awesome. Because also I'm really aware that not everyone is a bookish person and words aren't for everyone but there's still messages for everyone out there. Good vibes. Hope it happens.   

Rebekah: Can I ask you a question, what do you guys think would be a good spin off or is there anything in the book that spoke to you? 

Lizzie: I think the TV show is a good idea! 

Alex: I think also I'd like to see a bit more of the cultural ones. Cos I am a young person who is from a different culture, different country and I came into care, and it was all different. But I know we have a lot of asylum seeker young people who are from totally different worlds and there isn't much talked about it when it comes to the culture difference coming into care and having to cope with a whole different way of living. A whole different language, a whole different life. I think I would like to see a lot more of that as well. 

Rebekah: That would be amazing. Yeah, to quickly flag in the book there's quite a few accounts from Muslim young people in care like their food choices not being respected, black care leavers facing a lot of racism.

So, there's some here but I think it could be taken further and I love the idea of having a Norfolk focused young peoples' account. Because I'm really aware that some of the issues that I've spoken about, I can't imagine what it's like to be in care now with constant social media, county lines and gangs and things that really weren't as big an issue you know when I was in care.

Please do keep me updated, are you thinking about putting something together?  

Sufia: Yeah, I think so for sure.. 

Alex: I'm hoping you guys would agree to something like this! 

Sufia: I think so for sure and what I've taken from you Rebekah is it can be anyone and the whole concept of like you don't wanna reject anyone. And we thought about making it multi-media ... so like you could have writing but also maybe there might be a young person who doesn't necessarily know what to put on paper with words but maybe they know how to do it with a paintbrush, or maybe they know how to do it with photography. So like why don't we make like a whole visual piece, a little book and see where it goes. But even talking about this now I feel like we need to get a panel together of young people to be like what would you want to see and how would you wanna do this and then we like plan it around that. And I think also it's being mindful of the fact that you're pouring yourself out. Taking care of yourself and us always being there as well to take care of that process. You know you're sharing something personal, and you're supposed to but it's up to you what share and how you share it.  

Even at the beginning there's that tartan you talk about, and I just even thought that would be an amazing art piece that people can collaborate on and it's like what could we do our version of like that. So, when people are flicking through it the ones that love to read can read away and the ones who are more visual can kind of connect to it so yeah I guess it would be cool to do like a multi-media kind of version of it, I think.  

Rebekah: That just sounds so much more accessible. I think a lot of people freak out when they think of writing. I wasn't good at writing at school... 

Rebekah: Just thank you all for taking the time to read and I speak on behalf of a hundred people who put their heart and soul into this, and I think they will feel really seen and heard so thank you. And I hope the people you get involved in the Norfolk book feel seen and heard. And I will definitely be the first one reading it so can't wait to see what you come up with. You're inspiring, I only wish that I was half as involved as you guys are as a care-leaver you know. I think you are inspiration this generation. That was an unintentional rhyme, did the crime! 

Alex: It's been really lovely and you were saying you wish you were more involved when you were younger. You know, but I think in a way we all kind of have our own path to follow. And you know what you did getting the book together and sharing all those stories, it's what has sort of inspired us to do our next thing really. I think we all do our own bits and pieces in the world. Thank you for what you did and agreeing for today and answering all our questions.  

Rebekah: Thank you it's been absolutely lovely, I wish we we were in person and we could just go to like Nando's now and do part 2.  

Sufia: Well when they launch their book we'll do a whole even and you'll be first on that invite list. 

Rebekah: Exactly! Yes I am so here for that launch event!