In the Reading Corner

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and raised in an Italian and Trinidadian household. Her first book for young adults, Orangeboy , was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and won the Bookseller YA Prize and Waterstone’s Prize for Older Children's Fiction. In 2021 she won the Jhalek Prize's inaugural children's and young category for her book Eight Pieces of Silva (20...

Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhat are the husband and wife team who wrote Lands of Belonging, a history of the South Asian countries that are intertwined with British history. Vikesh is a Creative Director with a background in design who has worked in advertising for over 18 years. He loves exploring the past and retelling the somewhat strange stories from his childhood, and is passionate about accurate...

James Dixon is a London-born, Glasgow-based novelist, poet, and playwright. His debut novel, The Unrivalled Transcendence of Willem J. Gyle (Thistle, 2017) was shortlisted for the 2018 Somerset Maugham Award by the Society of Authors. His debut children's novel, The Billow Maiden,  is published by Guppy publishing. Nikki Gamble caught up with James to talk about The Billow Maiden and writing...

Ewa Jozefkowicz grew up in Ealing, and studied English Literature at UCL. Her debut novel The Mystery of the Colour Thief , published by Zephyr in 2018, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She has written four further middle-grade novels, most recently The Dragon in the Bookshop, a fantasy adventure story with a deep soul, inspired by personal memories. About The Dragon in t...

Nicolette Jones is the children's book editor of the Sunday Times, and she has been a reviewer, feature writer, diarist, and book-prize judge. In 2012, she was shortlisted for the Eleanor Farjeon award for her "outstanding contribution to the world of children's books. Nicolette joined Nikki Gamble In The Reading Corner to talk about her anthology, Writes of Passage, a personal sele...

Former teacher, Jonathan Tulloch, is a journalist,  writer and naturalist whose nature features appear regularly in The Times and The Tablet, His debut children's novel, Cuckoo Summer , was published in July 2022, It's a wonderfully evocative novel set during the Second World War which captures Jonathan's childhood memories, and the stories passed down through generations. In this e...

Steve Cole has been a previous guest In The Reading Corner. We have talked about humour, comics and Dr Who. This time our conversation centres on four books important books that Steve has written for the dyslexia-friendly publisher Barrington Stoke. Each book takes as its subject one of the major concerns of our time. From waste management to the social justice issues associated with the fast fash...

Craig Caudill is an award-winning educator, naturalist and writer. He spent his formative years hunting, fishing and playing in the woods of Kentucky. For five decades he has cultivated experiential knowledge of the natural world as well as skills for survival in the great outdoors, which he now shares through his education workshops. Craig has now shared some of that experience in his book for ch...

Atinuke was born and grew up in Nigeria. She writes children's books because she loves the vibrancy, joy, wisdom and humour of her  African culture, which forms the basis for most of her writing. She has written about urban and rural life in West Africa and her stories show the diversity of backgrounds that children come from, debunking the imagery that is familiar from charity promotions and...

Lauren Wolk is an American author, poet and editor. Born in Baltimore, she studied English literature at Brown University graduating in 1981. Wolk won a Newbery Honor in 2017 for her novel Wolf Hollow and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction in 2018 for Beyond the Bright Sea. In this episode of #InTheReadingCorner Lauren talks about In My Own Lightning, her sequel to Wolf Hollow, Abo...

JonArno Lawson is a Canadian writer who has published many books for children and adults, was born in Hamilton, Ontario and raised in nearby Dundas. He now lives in Toronto, Lawson has won The Lion and the Unicorn  Award for Excellence in North American Poetry four times, in 2007, 2009, 2013, and 2014. The books were Enjoy It While It Hurts , A Voweller's Bestiary , Black Stars In A White Nig...

Phil Earle was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal with When the Sky Falls .  his hard-hitting emotional story,  which highlights the plight of zoo animals during The Blitz. Phil's latest book While the Storm Rages is also set in the Blitz but this time tells about the fate of many pets and one boy and his friends' quest to save their animal companions. Phil dropped by to tell us more abo...

Polly Dunbar is an English author-illustrator. She is best known for her self-illustrated books Penguin, the Tilly and Friends series,  which was made into a television series. She has illustrated Margaret Mahy's riotous rhymes   Down the Back of the Chair  and Bubble Trouble as well as a collection of Michael Rosen's poems for very young children,   A Great Big Cuddle. Now Polly has ill...

Jarvis studied graphic design and previously worked as a record sleeve designer, website designer, and animation director before becoming a children’s book illustrator. His books include Mrs Mole, I’m Home! and Alan’s Big, Scary Teeth( which won the 2017 V&A Best Illustrated Book) Pick a Pumpki n and Pick a Pine Tree. With Jeanne Willis he has co-created I'm in Charge and Spike the Hedgeh...

Legendarium is the final book in Jennifer Bell's gaming fantasy adventure duology, which began with Wonderscape. This time our heroes are propelled into the future and tasked with preventing a villain from uncovering the secrets of time travelling and the ultimate power that this could bring. Jennifer travelled virtually into The Reading Corner to talk more about gaming, time travel and her f...

Sophie Anderson is well-loved for her fantasy novels that draw on Slavic and Russian folklore. Sophie dropped into the reading corner to talk about her latest novel The Thief Who Sang Storms  and the traditional stories which inspired it. About The Thief Who Sang Storms. The Island of Morovia is shaped like a broken heart. The humans live on one side of the island, and the alkonosts - the bird-peo...

With a long career in factual radio programming and podcasting,  and now working in the role of Commissioning Editor - Factual, BBC Radio 4, Rich Knight is well-placed to write about politics for young readers. If I Ran the Country starts from the premise that the reader is in a position to run the country and then takes them on a decision-making journey covering the key considerations that any po...

Justin Anderson is a wildlife and adventure filmmaker. He produced and directed the ‘Mountains’ segment of Planet Earth II which featured the first-ever fight between four snow leopards seen on screen.  After working on this series, her wrote his first children’s book Snow Leopard: Ghost of the Grey Mountain.  A second book, Narwhal: Arctic Unicorn is recently published by Walker Books. Justin joi...

Anthony Horowitz is well-known for his top-selling Alex Rider and for his television writing.  He is also the author of the brilliant Diamond Brothers mysteries, each one based on one of his favourite films. During lockdown, he started to write a new Diamond Brothers online. The story, Where Seagulls Dare,  is now published with the royalties being donated to Home-Start  a Suffolk charity, in a bi...

Justyn Edwards graduated from Southampton University with a degree in archaeology. Since then he has worked as a caravan park attendant, a paperboy and a software engineer, but never as an archaeologist. He has always wanted to be a writer and his inspiration for The Great Fox Illusion. Justin magicked himself into the reading corner and talked to Nikki Gamble about his writing secrets. Of course,...

Jim Smith is the British children’s author and illustrator of the Barry Loser and Future Ratboy series. Before creating the hugely popular Barry Loser novels for younger children, Smith worked as a designer, creating the quirky cartoon imagery for coffee chain Puccinos before branching out into stationery and gift design under the brand-name Waldo Pancake. The first Barry Loser book, I Am Not a Lo...

Sharna Jackson is an arts educator and author of children's books. She garnered critical acclaim with her first novel, The High Rise Mystery , featuring Nik and Norva, a pair of black sisters, who solve crimes on an estate, the Tri Estate, in South London. This was followed by a second mystery featuring the sleuthing sisters, Mic Drop . Sharna joined Nikki Gamble In the Reading Corner to talk...

Mini Grey is one of the UK's best-loved illustrators with her witty visual and linguistic style that incorporates found objects and is characterised by playfulness and heaps of imagination. Her books work for a wide age range and are highly appreciated by adults as well as younger readers. She is the recipient of  The Kate Greenaway Medal for The Adventures of theD ish and the Spoon. In this...

Elizabeth Uviebinene studied Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick and then worked as a Marketing manager in the city. It was this experience that led to the writing, with co-author Yomi Adegoke, of the bestselling book, Slay in Your Lane, a life guide for young Black British Women. In 2018 Elizabeth was the recipient of a Marie Claire Future Shaper award. Now Elizabeth a...

Children's author, Nicola Davies is a zoologist by training.  She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show.  she is a prolific writer of nonfiction, fiction and poetry for children with a particular interest in the natural world. Jenni Desmond graduated with a master’s degree in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School...