Talking Books - July 2026
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What is the purpose of Talking Books and who are the hosts this month?
Petersfield's Shine Radio. Now available on DAB. Talking Books with Susie Wilde and Tim O'Kelly.
Welcome to the July edition of Talking Books and I'm on my own mostly this month because Tim's off on his holes. I popped into Goldfinch Books in Alton and had a chat there with Louise Morish, author and bookseller and Piper Knight storyteller and her writing group. Um and find out more about that shortly. But I also managed a Zoom call with a friend, Kitty Kettle, author of speculative young adult fiction. As Catherine L. Kettle, she explores power dynamics, grief, the human cost of control and technology, and more of all this later. But we're going to start off at Goldfinch Books with the gang. Well I'm sitting here um on a massively hot day but in the beautifully air-conditioned Goldfinch books in Alton with Louise Morish, friend of um Talking Books, and um
Piper Knight, who is a storyteller par excellence, but will be saying much more about what she does, and we're waiting for the arrival of her really loyal and wonderful band of children. And this is their last day. So let's kick off. Louise, can you just tell me a little bit? We'll be talking much more in detail about the bookshop, but just very briefly. What is Goldfinch Books? What makes it different? And where can we find it?
Well, Golffinch Books is the most astonishing little bookshop. It's an independent bookshop in the heart of Alton and we're a community space. Above all else. Meaning? Meaning that we have all sorts of people involved in in our shop and they come and they use the space for all sorts of different events, um meetings, workshops like Piper Night runs, children's workshops, storytelling sessions, all sorts, book clubs, poetry nights, it's a it's a real space, it's a venue m as much as anything else. And Um yeah, and a very A very well curated bookshop as well. We have definite um leanings towards a certain things. So we're very much uh LGBTQ friendly, trans, uh politics, um nature, nature writing, children's fiction, all of that we're very passionate about.
What makes Goldfinch Books unique and how does it serve the Alton community?
But totally properly inclusive, is not completely word I was trying to think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's but it and I think that's important because I do it's and I know that you're the same that once people sort of think you're going down one alley, you're not up another. And I think, you know, it's really, really important. And one of the things I totally love And Piper Knight sitting on my right here, is the extent of children's and young adults uh literature. So uh from very reasons on.
Really special. And I think that what you you were saying about an inclusive Um shell. as as a as a former editor of children's fiction and working with children as a teacher for many years The goal has to be for every child to be able to see themselves in our book. Well it follows but isn't always thought of that every shelf should have you know, you should be able to find yourself on a bookshelf. Um The books are there, but they're not necessarily easy to get to.
No. We here they are. We really, really try hard, don't we, to make sure that our our um extent of uh books covers You know, lots of different areas but also lots of different um types of family and lots of different backgrounds.
I was gonna say that. I mean one of my favourites when I was growing up was the family from one end street. And you know, that's fantastic. And there was a big thing on the radio yesterday about the white working class being feeling very, very left behind and this notion of white privilege. And I was a child brought up by a single mother in a rented maisonette above a wood shop in Portsmouth. And it's true that there's never you know, nothing's actually been catered for us since. And I think that's why it's so important. A absolutely as you say, Piper, that everybody is visible.
And also multicultural as well. I mean all totally has lots of different c cultures here and lots of different people coming and staying and living here and everything and and we try really hard for those books to reflect the our community as well, which isn't simply white.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of Talking Books and who are the hosts this month?
0:01–2:44
2
What makes Goldfinch Books unique and how does it serve the Alton community?
2:44–8:27
3
How does the Storytelling & Writing Competition at Goldfinch Books work and what is its theme?
8:27–10:29
4
What is Kitty Kettle’s new novel *Control Alter Delete* about and what themes does it explore?
10:29–19:18
5
How does Kitty Kettle view AI, gaming, and social media in relation to her speculative fiction?
19:18–27:23
6
What is Kitty’s process for world‑building and how does she collaborate with editors?
27:23–35:12
7
Why does Suzie Wilde recommend *High Fibre Heroes* and what recipes does it feature?
35:12–41:43
8
What final messages do the hosts and guests leave for young readers and writers?
41:43–44:20