173: The Wonder of Britfield with Chad Stewart on Change It Up Radio with Paula Shaw

Change It Up Radio

In this episode of Change It Up Radio, Chad Stewart joins me to talk about his fast-paced young adult adventure series, "Britfield," and the importance of creativity and innovation in the education of young people today.

My guest today, Chad Stewart, is a prolific writer, producer, creativity specialist, and prominent speaker, as well as the author and creative mind behind the Britfield series. He joins me today to discuss how Britfield engages, stimulates, and inspires young readers to explore and discover their own creativity in a realistic world of adventure and intrigue, and explains why this series is an innovative educational movement in creativity, leadership, and education.

Chad, who has an extensive background in investment banking and business consulting, explains that although he often pursued the logical route in his career, he had always been creative and yearned to do something fun and expressive. He shares how one simple sketch that he had doodled during a boring business seminar sparked an idea for a story that took him in a completely different direction in life.

Having experienced a discouraging decline in creativity himself, Chad recognized that creativity and critical thinking are sidelined by an educational “cookie-cutter mentality” that rewards the common rather than encouraging the ingenuity needed to succeed and thrive in the modern world. This led him to create The Britfield Institute, which is a not-for-profit that is dedicated to encouraging young people to value learning, providing interactive programs to help students learn to innovate, brainstorm, imagine, problem-solve, and create — skills that will prepare them for the future.

While Stewart’s approach might sound reminiscent of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, he emphasizes that his subject matter differs drastically, drawing upon history and literary models such as Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters as the inspirations for his fiction. That focus stems in large part from his studies in European history and British literature at Brown University and his journeys in England.

With the third book, Britfield & the Return of the Prince, coming out in August 2022, the series is well on its way to becoming a multi-media franchise.

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