Mostly Book Talk

In this episode we talk with poet Nicola Davies about the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA). The CLiPPA is the UK’s leading prize for poetry for children and each year highlights outstanding new collections for the young and very young. She takes us the through the 2026 Shortlist and we also talk about her her role as the Children's Laureate for Wales and quite a bit about...

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 Tom Harbour the CEO of Learning with Parents . Learning with...

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 Sarah Satha the Chair of Inclusive Books for Children . Incl...

We talk to author Molly Harris about her new picture book Whirby , illustrated by Jacob Souva . Whirby is a robot and his favourite activity at school is bot battles, but in his excitement about getting ready he forgets to get any rest and recharge his batteries and when it comes to his turn in the competition he has no energy left. Can he recover and do what he really enjoys? A great book for bed...

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 Louisa Farrow from The Federation of Children's Book Gr...

In this episode we are joined by author Rashmi Sirdeshpande about her new books - Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar (illustrated by Mamta Singh ) which is a diary style middle grade and Super Uma (illustrated by Nakul P. ) which is picture book with lots of sparkle and the all important unicorn. Rashmi is as ever super busy with a number of new books coming up (details of the books mentioned below). S...

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 Imogen Bond from EmpathyLab EmpathyLab develops, activates, a...

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 Emma Bell, CEO of Chapter One . Through their volunteer readi...

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 you can get involved. In this episode we are joined by Amy Lewis, Head of Coram Beanstalk . Coram Beanstalk work with p...

For Part 6 we asked all our interviewees for one thing they would do to address the reading crisis. Properly funded libraries and librarians were unsurprisingly a strong theme, but also a rethink about how we position children's reading - how do we find the space for children to read and support children to experience the power and enjoyment of reading so they find their own routes into readi...

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 Andrea Reece who is the Managing Editor of the children'...

In this episode we talk with Nadia Shireen about the mad and upredictable world of Grimwood and book five in the series, Rock the Vote! which has recently come out in paperback.  Listen in to find out where Nadia gets her ideas from, how she writes, why illustrations are so important and what Titus's best cake would be. Nadia can be found on Instagram here Her Grimwood books can be found here...

In this episode we talk to author Sophy Henn about her new picture book I Want Everything! - which is about how sometimes it might feel like you want everything, but when you really think about it you probably don't... We also discuss the latest installment in her action packed and madcap Happy Hills graphic novel series, Cheesy Bob Strikes! Sophy can be found on Instagram here And the books...

In part 5 we continue looking at what works to support reading for pleasure, focusing more this time on opportunities for authors to engage with readers and the importance of wider family and community involvement and spaces to discover and talk about books. For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode): Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many book...

We are joined by author Sarah Crossan to talk about her new verse novel, Gone for Good . It is a read in one go thriller about the troubled teen industry. Sixteen-year-old Connie is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to a 'behaviour modification programme' at Silver Lake and quickly gets drawn into the mystery of where missing resident Belle has gone to. We also talk about Sa...

In part 4 we hear more about what we should be doing to address the decline in children’s reading for pleasure. In this episode we focus on approaches in schools and how to involve staff and pupils in creating a reading for pleasure culture. For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode): Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look...

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 Tanja Jennings, who is the joint Northern Ireland Representat...

In this episode we talk to Susannah Lloyd about the latest instalment in her Badgers are Go! series, Revenge of the Claw . Illustrated by Nici Gregory . We cover lots of ingenious disguises, pudding references and doing all the voices! Also the importance of having children who can help you name your characters. You can find out more about Susannah Lloyd's books here . The books we discussed...

In part 3 of our mini series about 'The Reading Crisis', we hear more about access, but also about who decides which books get published, how they're marketed, and how they get into children's hands, as well as the lack of coverage in the media of children's literature.   For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode): Dapo Adeola -...

 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. For our first conversation, we are joined by Mo O'Hara from Stepping Into Stories Kids&...

In part two of our mini series about The Reading Crisis, we look at how testing, technology and access to books are affecting reading for pleasure. For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode): Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up! , Clean Up! and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear . Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books includi...

The first in our mini series about The Reading Crisis - why children aren't reading and what we can do about it. In this episode we look at what the data tells us about children's reading and start to discuss what some of the barriers are to children reading for pleasure. For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode): Dapo Adeola - Author and the...

In in this episode we talk to AM Dassu about her latest book, Wild Journey . This is a collection of five interlinked stories about children around the world all connected by the sight of a murmuration of starlings. Fully illustrated by Joe Lillington. AM Dassu's website can be found here and links to the books we discussed are below: Wild Journey Boy, Everywhere Fight Back Can You Find my Ei...

A quick trailer for our new mini series which will be out soon on the 'reading crisis' where we explore why children aren't reading and what we can do about it. Look out for the first episode. Send us a message

We are back and have an episode all about libraries. First up is an interview with Rebecca Gediking who is the Head of Libraries at GLL and also the Chair of the GLL Literary Foundation - which does lots of great work supporting children's authors in the areas in which GLL have libraries. Events there for schools to look out for and ideas for how other libraries might work with authors. After...