Saba Sams

‘I was first introduced to the idea that I could write in an A-Level English Literature class. I grew up in Brighton and went to a sixth-form college up behind the station. It was a half-hour walk and included a very steep hill. At the bottom of the hill was a viaduct which housed what felt like Brighton’s entire population of pigeons. When I think of college, I think of feathers and pigeon shit and writing.

‘I wasn’t a particularly happy teenager. Before college, I spent three years at a private school whose single mission was to churn out excessively high grades. That school was a business, and every student could feel it. I have more friends from there with eating and anxiety disorders than anywhere else, and I went to eight