Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Outlook: My anonymous teen story became a playground sensation

Magazines & Reviews

Anonymous silhouetted image of Jade LB

24/11/2021 GMT

My anonymous teen story became a playground sensation

BBC World Service - Outlook, My anonymous teen story became a playground sensation

In 2005, schoolgirl Jade LB uploaded a story to her blog, which took on a life of its own

When British schoolgirl Jade LB uploaded a fictional story to her blog – she had no idea it would end up being passed around playgrounds all over London.

In 2005, when London schoolgirl Jade LB was just 13, she got a computer for her birthday and began writing a fictional story on it – the sometimes raunchy, sometimes disturbing adventures of a 17-year-old girl called Keisha. Written in a mixture of text language, slang and patois, the story became legendary and was passed around playgrounds all over London. But when she first put it online with a promise to post a new chapter every two weeks, Jade had no idea of the impact it would have, or how Keisha would shape her life for years to come. Her book, Keisha the Sket, is out now. The readings you heard were by Nadia Rose.

Burhan Sönmez is now a prize-winning novelist, but when he was growing up in Turkey, a teenager of Kurdish origin, he had ambitions to be a lawyer. In the early 1980s he moved to Istanbul to begin his law degree, but these were dangerous times in Turkey. In 1980 there was a military coup in the country, and a wave of brutal repression, arrests and torture followed. Burhan tells Jo Fidgen about his detention in Istanbul and how he and his fellow inmates would escape into their imaginations to cope with torture and interrogation. This interview was first broadcast in December 2016.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

(Photo: Jade LB. Credit: Stuart Simpson)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

My anonymous teen story became a playground sensation

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service