In the Reading Corner

The Fan Brothers

06 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Fan,  Eric Fan and Devin Fan are American-born Canadian children's book writers and illustrators, known collectively as the Fan Brothers. ...

David Olusoga: Black British History

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Olusoga is a historian and broadcaster specialising in Black British History.In this episode he talks with Nikki Gamble about writing the empire...

Alexis Caught - Queer Up

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alexis Caught is an award-winning podcaster, writer, speaker, rugby player and LGBTQ activist with particular expertise in mental health and wellness....

Louie Stowell: Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Louie Stowell has a long-established career in publishing having worked for Usborne books as an editor and in-house writer and for Ladybird Books. She...

Serena Patel - Anisha Accidental Detective

15 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Serena Patel is the author of a hilarious new series of stories about family and friends featuring a family with South Asian heritage. The main charac...

Simon James Green: Sleepover Take Over

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Simon James Green is a writer of children's and YA fiction. He was listed for the Branford Boase Award for his debut novel, Noah Can't EvenH...

Diana Mayo

08 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Diana Mayo is an established  British illustrator, Her most recent picturebook is The Snow Ghost, written by Tony Mitton and published by Bloomsbury....

Jen Carney: The Diary of B.U.G.

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Author and illustrator Jen Carney wrote the B.U.G. series to celebrate diverse - and perhaps slightly bonkers - families. In this episode, she talks w...

Liz Pichon - Celebrating 10 Years of Tom Gates

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's an unbelievable 10 years since the publication of the first Tom Gates book.  Undoubtedly popular with young readers, the virtue of funny bo...

Padraig Kenny - The Monsters and Shadows of Rookhaven

11 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pádraig Kenny is an Irish writer. He started his career writing radio drama. As an arts journalist, he has contributed work to the Irish Times, the S...

When Shadows Fall

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Shadows Fall is a novel about what happens when tragedy strikes and the effect grief has on a teenage boy when the safety net that should be ther...

Michael Mann- Ghostcloud

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Mann is a primary school teacher by day, and mostly writes when he should be sleeping at night. He was a winner of SCBWI’s Undiscovered Voic...

Margaret Bateson-Hill and Karin Littlewood: Leah's Star

27 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Storyteller Margaret Bateson-Hill and illustrator, Karin Littlewood, bring their combined talents together in this beautiful retelling of the nativity...

Chris Naylor Ballesteros - The Tiny Reindeer

27 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros is a picture book author and illustrator. Originally from Bradford and studied illustration and graphic design at Bradford Co...

Richard Lambert - Shadow Town

21 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Lambert was born in London. He has had many different jobs including teaching medieval history. For the last ten years, he has lived in Norfol...

Joanna Nadin - No Man's Land

21 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Joanna Nadin author and senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Bristol. She has been nominated twice for the Carnegie Medal and shor...

Flora Delargy - Rescuing Titanic

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Flora Delargy is an author and illustrator from Belfast. She has a master's degree in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of ...

Kieran Larwood - The Five Realms

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kieran Larwood is the author of Freaks and was the winner of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2011. He is best known for his p...

Nick Lake and Emily Gravett - Locked Out Lily

14 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Lake is an editorial director at HarperCollins Children's Books and an acclaimed author of YA novels. He is the winner of the Michael L Prin...

Yaba Badoe: Lionheart Girl

13 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Yaba Badoe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and writer. Yaba was born in Ghana but now lives in England with her husband. She has been nomina...

Lisa Fuller - Ghost Bird

13 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lisa Fuller is a Wuilli Wuilli woman from Eidsvold, Queensland, and is also descended from Gooreng Gooreng and Wakka Wakka peoples. She won a 2019 bla...

Michael Rosen - Sticky McStickstick

06 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Rosen's battle with Covid was followed with concern by fans and well-wishers. Hoe has spoken about the impact of the virus on his health ...

Olivia Lomenech Gill - Medusa

06 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Olivia Lomenech Gill is a fine artist, printmaker and children's book illustrator. She is the illustrator of J K Rowling's Fantastic Beasts ...

Alexandra Page and Stef Murphy: The Fire Fox

06 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Page and Stef Murphy introduce their new book, The Fire Fox. Based on Sami myth about the origins of the Northern lights. It's a beauti...

Sophie Kirtley: The Way to Impossible Island

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sophie Kirtley is a prize-winning poet and children's. She grew up in Northern Ireland where she enjoyed a childhood closely connected to nature....

Owen Davey - All About Animals

04 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Owen Davey's bold graphic style is widely recognised, and his animal series published by Flying Eye is hugely popular.  From Monkeys to Octopuse...

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts - The Questioneers

04 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts are the creative duo behind the Questioneers series featuring the young children in Miss Greer's class. Iggy Peck,...

Cornelia Funke: The Aurelia Curse

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cornelia Funke is a fantasy writer whose work has garnered international recognition and has been adapted for cinema.  Her first book to be translate...

Philip Womack - Wildlord

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Philip Womack is a journalist and writer, whose work is infused with myth, legend and wild magic, in the tradition of Alan Garner and Susan Cooper. Hi...

Jen Campbell - The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With a background in bookselling, Jen Campbell is the author of Franklin's Flying Bookshop and the Sunday Times bestseller, Weird Things People S...

Yvette Fielding: The House in the Woods

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Television presenter Yvette Fielding is well-known for her time on Blue Peter and as the co-creator and presenter of Most Haunted. In this episode, sh...

Oliver Jeffers - There's a Ghost in This House

23 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist and author working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, collage, performance, and sculpture. He best is one of the...

Phil Hickes- The Haunting of Aveline Jones

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Phil Hickes was born in the UK where he lived next door to a graveyard - a perfect breeding ground for a future writer of children's horror stori...

Frances Durkin: The Histronauts

09 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Frances Durkin believes in making history both accessible and fun. The Histornauts series is a well-conceived project from Small publishing in which a...

William Grill - Bandoola:the great elephant rescue

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The third book in William Grill's series with publisher Flying Eye, Bandoola: the great elephant rescue, tells the story of war veteran James How...

Dr Nick Crumpton: Everything You Know About Dinosaurs is Wrong

06 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Crumpton is a zoologist and children's author. He has worked as a science communicator at the Natural History Museum and as a journalist and...

Rob and Tom Sears:The Biggest Footprint

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

 Rob and Tom’s creative partnership began in the 1980s when Tom (the younger brother) was born. Now, Rob is a bestselling writer and Tom is an illu...

Alastair Chisholm: Adam-2

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alastair Chisholm has developed a reputation for writing exciting middle-grade science fiction. Orion Lost, a futuristic story about a the crew of a s...

M G Leonard and Sam Sedgman :Adventures on Trains

25 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

M G Leonard and Sam Sedgman are the co-authors of Adventures on Trains, a gripping, page turning mystery series that takes in train journeys across di...

Chella Quint - Own Your Period

25 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chella Quint coined the term ‘period positive’ in 2006 while touring her free Adventures in Menstruating comedy show and workshops in school holid...

Flavia Drago - winner of the Klaus Flugge Prize 2021

22 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Flavia Drago is an illustrator with a broad portfolio covering branding, packaging, character development and children's books. She is a recent g...

Yasmin Abdel-Magied: Listen, Layla

18 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sudanese-Australian writer and media presenter, Yasmin Abdel-Magied is something of a superstar. Following an early career as a mechanical engineer an...

Sara Pennypacker: Pax the Journey Home

18 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sara Pennypacker's Pax was a huge hit with children and adults alike. Many readers wanted to know what happened to Peter and his pet Fox after th...

Rob Biddulph: Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rob Biddulph is well-known for his picture books and the phenomenally successful Draw with Rob YouTube channel. Now he has turned his talent to writin...

Chris Thorogood - When Plants Took Over the Planet

11 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Thorogood is Deputy Director & Head of Science, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum, His recently published book When Plants...

Samuel Langley-Swain and Monika Singh Gantora introduce Owlet Press

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Samuel Langley-Swain has a background in fine art but following the arrival of his two children, he decided that needed to write his own story. After ...

Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kiran Millwood and Tom de Freston are creative partners as well as being married to each other. Their recently published novella, Julia and the Shark ...

Pam Smy - The Hideaway

04 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pam Smy talks to Nikki Gamble about her highly anticipated second novel, The Hideaway.Pam describes the different threads that are woven together to c...

Victoria Hislop - Maria's Island

19 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Hislop read English at Oxford and worked in publishing, PR and as a journalist before becoming a novelist. Her first novel, The Island, held...

Peter Frankopan - The Silk Road

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he is Senior Research Fellow and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Director of th...

Naomi Gibson: Every Line of You

15 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Naomi Gibson was born in 1988 and grew up in Cheshire, UK. Her childhood was spent with her nose in a book and her hands on a sketchpad, constantly in...

Swapna Haddow: 1947, Torn Apart

11 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Swapna Haddow trained as a doctor, but after discovering she didn't like blood, decided on a career change and wrote her first book Dave Pigeon: ...

Jeffrey Boakye - Musical Truth

07 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeffrey Boakye is a writer and teacher originally from Brixton in south London, now living in Yorkshire with his family. He has a particular interest ...

Ross Montgomery - Ten Delicious Teachers

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ross Montgomery is known for his inventive stories and reflective picturebooks. Now he brings us something entirely different, a rhyming countdown boo...

Dirk Reinhardt and Rachel Ward

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dirk Reinhardt, born in 1963, studied German and history before becoming a freelance journalist and starting to write books for children and young adu...

Linda Newbery - This Book is Cruelty Free

31 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Linda Newbery is a Costa Award-winning author for her novel Set in Stone, a mystery in the Vein of Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. She is highly re...

Struan Murray - Branford Boase winner 2021

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Struan Murray author of The Orphans of the Tide and Shipwreck Island is the joint recipient of the Branford Boase award, with editor Ben Horslen. The ...

Alom Shaha: The pleasures of discovering science and making machines

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alom Shaha was born in Bangladesh but grew up in London. A parent, teacher, science writer, and filmmaker, he has spent most of his professional life ...

Peter Bently - The King's Birthday Suit

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Bently is a prolific author of rhyming picture books for children. These include The Great Dog Bottom Swap (with Mei Matsuoka), Meet the Parent...

Michelle Paver - Skin Taker

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michelle Paver is a British novelist who was born in Malawi where she lived until she was three years old. Her mother was Belgian and her father was S...

Sally Gardner and Lydia Corry: The Tindims, Borrowers for the 21st Century

15 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sally Gardner and Lydia Corry are the creative partnership behind the fabulous Tindims stories, a series that is reminiscent of The Borrowers but with...

Pippa Curnick - Indigo Wilde

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pippa Curnick has established herself as a picturebook talent and now added her creative magic to a new illustrated fiction series for newly independe...

Polly Ho-Yen - How I Saved the World in a Week

07 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Polly Ho-Yen's debut book, The Boy in The Tower, was an instant success. The middle-grade science fiction story about strange spores that affecte...

Maisie Chan - Tiger Warriors

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Maise Chan is a British Chinese author, born in Birmingham and now living in Glasgow. She runs the Bubble Tea Writers Network, a support group that sh...

Nicola Morgan - Be Resilient

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After talking to Nicola Morgan about strategies and techniques for developing resilience, I decided to try belly breathing. It's great for focus ...

Dominic Sandbrook - Adventures in History

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian, broadcaster and writer, Dominic Sandbrook, talks about his collections of historical stories for children.  How do you make history engagi...

David Ouimet - I Get Loud

30 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

David Ouimet is an American artist, author, and musician. Early illustration work includes album jackets for his rock group Motherheadbug. He has also...

A M Howell - Mystery of the Night Watchers

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A M Howell is the author of The Garden of Lost Secrets and The House of  One Hundred Clocks, historical mysteries set in and around real places in Ea...

Pooja Puri - madcap adventures with inventions, time travel and dinosaurs

27 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pooja Puri's  A Dinosaur Ate My Sister was selected as the first book choice for Marcus Rashford's Book Club.  A percentage of sales will ...

Lauren St John - Wave Riders

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren St John is well-known for her thrilling mystery series, The White Giraffe series, Laura Marlin Mysteries and Wolfe and Lamb.  Lauren's bo...

Marcia Williams - exploring feelings

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Marcia Williams is well known for her wonderful retellings of best-loved stories in her inimitable comic book style which invite reading and rereading...

Hilary McKay - The Swallow's Flight

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hilary McKay is one of the best-loved children's novelists writing today. She has a talent for making the ordinary beautiful and extraordinary. ...

Ewa Jozefkowicz - The Cooking Club Detectives

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ewa Jozefkowicz's latest book is simply delicious. The Cooking Club Detectives covers some serious territory such as food poverty and adult depre...

Jenny Pearson - The Incredible Record Smashers

20 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Pearson's first book The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates was published to great acclaim and quickly became a favourite with prima...

Susie Bower - The Three Impossibles

19 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Susie has been a teacher, a tour guide, a typist, a workshop facilitator, a PA and a painter. She formerly wrote and directed TV programmes for childr...

M G Leonard - Twitch

13 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

M G Leonard is the author of the internationally bestselling Beetle Boy series, a thrilling and sometimes dark adventures series that helped many read...

Brian Conaghan - Cardboard Cowboys

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Brian Conaghan was born and raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge but now lives in Dublin. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the...

Jodie Lancet-Grant and Lydia Corry - The Pirate Mums

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jodie Lancet-Grant and Lydia Corry popped into The Reading Corner to talk about their book, The Pirate Mums. Jodie explained that as a gay mum with t...

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock - Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Born and raised in Alaska and a longtime journalist for Alaska Public Radio, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock spent ten years fishing commercially and raised her ...

Martin Jenkins - a window into wildlife worlds

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Wildlife writer Martin Jenkins writes books about the natural world for young children that are both informative and engaging.After graduating from Ca...

Tim Hopgood

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Hopgood is a graduate of Kingston University and worked for 20 years as a graphic design and freelance illustration. His first book, Our Big Blue...

Sam Thompson - Wolfstongue

30 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Thompson was shortlisted for the 2012  Man Booker Prize for his debut novel Communion Town. He has published short stories and has contributed ar...

Ben Garrod and the Creativity of Extinction

22 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Garrod is an evolutionary biologist, primatologist, broadcaster and writer.  He is currently Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engage...

Jason Cockroft - We Were Wolves

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Cockcroft is an acclaimed illustrator, winner of the inaugural Blue Peter Children's Book Award for his interpretation of Pilgrim's Pr...

David Litchfield - let there be light

16 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chatting with David Litchfield about the illustration for Pip and Egg by Alex Latimer. David talks about his approach to composition, light and the wa...

Swapna Haddow and Dapo Adeola - characterful collaboration

16 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Swapna Haddow is the author of the prize-winning Dave Pigeon series illustrated by Sheena Dempsey and writing as Swapna Reddy, The Ballet Bunnies seri...

Patience Agbabi - The Time Thief

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Patience Agbabi's second novel in the Leap Cycle is published this month. The Time Thief picks up the story from the previous novel The Infinite ...

Jo Bowers and Simon Fisher the Tir na n-Og (English Language) Award

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Jo Bowers and Simon Fisher talk about children's literature with a Welsh context, the Tir na -n-Og Award and the English languag...

Dr Jess Wade and Melissa Castrillon - the art and science of Nano

02 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Jess Wade is a British research physicist who works at Imperial College., where she specialises in Raman spectroscopy.Melissa Castrillon graduated ...

Damien Love - Monstrous Devices

02 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scottish writer Damien Love has worked as a journalist for many years, writing about movies, music, TV, and other things for a variety of publications...

Graham Carter: Let There Be Light

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Graham Carter is an artist and illustrator who works with a range of media including printmaking, animation and 3D word sculpture. In this episode, h...

John Klassen: The Rock From the Sky

17 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

 Jon Klassen is a Canadian animator and creator of picturebooks now living in the US. He has illustrated books for other writers and has a long-stand...

Chris Haughton - Maybe

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Haughton is an Irish illustrator, author and designer now living in London. He was a long-standing interest in fair trade and was listed in Time...

Ben Mantle: Frog, Toad and a bus full of Bunnies

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

 Ben Mantle began his illustration career early, picking up his first award in a local library colouring-in competition aged seven. He went on to stu...

Nicola Skinner looking Starboard

03 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nicola Skinner is a writer of originality and wit. Her latest book is inspired by Brunel's great ship the SS Great Britain,  the biggest tourist...

David Almond - Bone Music

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

David Almond is a British writer born in Newcastle on the north side of the Tyne and raised in Gateshead on the south of the river. His writing is inf...

Elle McNicoll

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Elle McNicoll researched the representation of neurodivergent characters in books for children and young adults, she drew a blank. She decided th...

Jonathan Stroud - The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Stroud's latest book The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne is a post-catastrophe story set in a future England. In this England, you either li...

Raymond Antrobus - Can Bears Ski?

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Raymond Antrobus was born in Hackney was diagnosed as deaf during childhood,  He is a writer and educator and has achieved many accolades for his poe...

Jeanne Willis - a writer of many shades and tones

20 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From the silliness of Sing a Song of Bottoms to the sharp wit of Tadpole's Promise and the gently reflective Bog Baby, Jeanne Willis is a prolifi...