Mostly Book Talk

We talk with Tom Palmer about his latest book, If the Invader Comes , the first in a trilogy of books set in Cornwall. Published by Barrington Stoke in a dyslexia friendly format, the Allies trilogy explores the experiences of children during World War II in Cornwall and focus on the dynamics of friendship and allyship among the characters. As with his earlier books about the two World Wars, Tom h...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Dr Fen Coles from the Letterbox Library . Letterbox Library...

In this episode we talk with Pépé Smit about her picture book Fred the Very Demanding Deer which is published by Scallywag Press and translated from Dutch. We were lucky enough to go to the launch at GOSH comics and met Pépé, loved the book and of course wanted to chat to her about the book and Fred.  Pépé trained as a visual artist at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute. Her il...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Sian Hardy, founder of the Literacy Hive . Literacy Hive is...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Julie Taylor Education Lead at the Children's Literacy...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Andrew McCallum, Director of the English and Media Centre. T...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we discuss the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award and are joined by Ba...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Rachel Boden who is the lead children's book promotion...

We talk with Claire Linney about her Time Tub Travellers series, the third book of which is out at the start of October 2026. Inspired by reading Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufmann, Claire started researching Black British history and the stories that are too often untold and hidden. She decided she wanted to bring these stories to life in a fun, adventurous way for children and th...

In this episode we talk with Abiola Bello - author, publisher and co-founder of the Diverse Book Awards . The third book in her Wild Magic series for younger readers is out and we talk about the success of the series - the first book just won the Sparks School Book Award prize and how kids love facts mixed in with their fiction. Abiola is as ever very busy and we talk about her third book in the M...

Welcome back to the new school year - we hope you had a great summer. September always feels the time for fresh starts and we are back after a bit of summer break. We have an interview with Dean Atta about his picture book, Auntie's Bangles   (illustrated by Alea Marley )- a joyous take on loss and remembering. We also talk about his YA books and the middle grade project he is working on. All...

Fidan Meikle is a multi-award-winning Azerbaijani-British writer, linguist and translator. We talk with her about her debut middle-grade novel, My Name Is Samim , which is a powerful novel that follows Samim, a thirteen-year-old boy, as he flees war-torn Afghanistan for a new life in the UK.  It highlights the experiences of young refugees and asylum-seekers, and has been a word of mouth success,...

In this episode we have a feast of middle grade books! We talk first to Kristina Rahim author of the very popular The Doughnut Club , about her second book Max and Ella Stuck Together .  Max has had a tough year starting secondary school. He has been bullied about having two mums and has lost his confidence. He is even finding it hard to enjoy the music that he used to love. He knows he risks lett...

We talk with author Clare Pollard about her new middle grade book The Othernauts . Based on the story of Jason and the Argonauts, we follow Phoebe who is bored of life on the island where she lives and is desperate to escape. When a ship with Jason and the Argonauts comes into the harbour she acts quickly and joins their quest to find the Golden Fleece. Full of humour and with illustrations by Mac...

We talk to the chair of judges and the 2025 winner of The Klaus Flugge Prize for Illustration, Emma Farrarons . Emma won the prize in 2025 which is for the year’s most exciting newcomers to children’s picture book illustration. This year she is back as the chair of judges alongside illustrator Rob Biddulph , illustrator and course director for the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge Sc...

We talk to Bex Hughes about the upcoming Canterbury Children's Literature Festival which is on the 9th - 12th of July and also about Book Shop Crawl UK which hosts book shop crawls in cities around the UK. You can find out more about all the exciting events on at the Canterbury Children's Literature Festival here . And check out up coming book shop crawls here . Send us a message

In September 2026 all UK Secondary Schools will receive two copies of the book Scientists Making a Difference by Dr Shini Somara together with a pack of resources. This is a collaboration between publishers What on Earth!, the Gatsby Foundation and Imperial. We talk to teacher Jennifer Marchant who created the school resources to discuss the book, what schools will find in their pack and how they...

Join us as we talk to lead curators Alison Bailey and Laura Walker, of the British Library's Fairy Tales Exhibition. This interactive and child friendly exhibit is on until 23 August 2026 and covers many familiar tales as well as lesser known stories.  They have brought together interactive displays, theatrical design, story sharing spaces, costumes and activities, as well as some great examp...

Join us talking to Mayo Agard-Olubo about his debut picture book, Kid Rex to the Rescue , illustrated by Diane Ewen. Max's imagination transforms him into the superhero Kid Rex, and he's ready to use his dinosaur powers to battle robots, dragons and even the evil king dust bunny. A fun bedtime story and definitely one for dinosaur fans. Mayo's website can be found here . His BBC Sou...

Following on from episode 48 when we went through the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist together with expert Carnegie followers Alison Jewitt and Amy McKay, in this episode we go through the Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlist and make some more ill fated predictions for the winners. Alison Jewitt is an English teacher at the London Nautical City of London Academy has led a Carnegie shado...

Join us as we talk with author Malcolm Duffy about his YA book Dead Straight Line. This is his fifth book and is inspired by a teenage game of traveling in a straight line through, over or under obstacles. Rory pressures Yell into the game, with life changing consequences. The book explores risk taking, blame, guilt and shame as well as empathy and forgiveness. Written in a sparse and pacey style,...

Together with expert Carnegie followers Alison Jewitt and Amy McKay we go through the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist and make our ill fated predictions for the winners. Alison Jewitt is an English teacher at the London Nautical City of London Academy has led a Carnegie shadowing group in her school for many years and this is her third year helping us review the list. Amy McKay is the librari...

Join us as we chat with Cindy Wume, Taiwanese author and illustrator, about her new picture book, Home is a Hug. The book imagines all the different ways in which we can think about home. It has interactive elements with cutouts and flaps and lots of great details to seek out when reading it.  Find out about her journey from Taiwan to Cambridge, her creative process and discover how her travels an...

For the National Year of Reading , we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved. In this episode we talk to Lara Marshall, Libraries and Engagement Manager and Tom Norton, In...

We talked to Jeffrey Boakye and tried very hard to stay on the topic of children's books (and mostly succeeded). We talked about his middle grade series which starts with Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer , his books on music - Musical Truth and Musical World and what he is currently working on. We detoured into what everyone got up to in the 80s and 90s when there were only four TV channels and...