Collected: The Podcast

Celebrating 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh with Her Majesty The Queen

Recorded at a special event attended by the Royal Literary Fund's patron Her Majesty The Queen in Ashdown Forest, home of the Hundred Acre Wood, this bonus episode celebrates the legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh and the bequest author AA Milne left the RLF. Highlights include broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth on his friendship with Christopher Robin Milne, Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler explaining the enduring power of the stories, former CBeebies presenter and author Cerrie Burnell sharing what Winnie-the-Pooh means to her, as well as conversations with children's author Sita Brahmachari, writer and journalist Mark Lawson, and RLF Chief Executive Edward Kemp.

Since donating a portion of his Winnie-the-Pooh royalties to the RLF, AA Milne's bequest has generated £91 million for the Royal Literary Fund's grants, education, and outreach programmes, a legacy that means Winnie-the-Pooh is helping to support hundreds of writers today.

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After a summer of heatwaves and with 2027 set to be another record-breaking year for temperatures, Jay Griffiths joins host Jonathan Tulloch for a very timely discussion about nature writing and its role in combatting the climate crisis. The conversation touches on the importance of libraries, how we can foster a love of the environment in children, the bravery that investigative journalism requires and Jay's work with Extinction Rebellion.

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www.rlf.org.uk

Tying in with International Translation Day, the Belarusian writer joins host Julia Copus to discuss the joys and sensitivities of bringing poetry into English, and the challenges of writing in the face of authoritarianism, sharing how her time in prison following the 2020 Belarusian uprising laid the foundations for her latest book.

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www.rlf.org.uk

Celebrated memoirist and novelist Cathy Rentzenbrink talks about how she exorcised the ghost of her brother from her novels by writing The Last Act of Love, why writing can be a struggle, the healing power of reading projects, and why she loves talking to strangers on trains.

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Critically acclaimed writer Lauren J Joseph joins Ann Morgan to discuss how acting informs her writing process, why the time after you finish a manuscript can be so difficult, how generative failure can be and the publishing industry's treatment of marginalised communities. The pair also celebrate their shared love of Iris Murdoch's The Bell and talk about the overlooked intellect of Muriel Spark.

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The internationally acclaimed author of more than 40 books joins fellow crime writer and band mate Doug Johnstone to discuss how the publishing industry has changed, the novel she had to run away to write, becoming lead singer of The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers in her sixties, and why she's having more fun with more genres than ever.

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RLF beneficiary Davina Quinlivan shares her journey writing Possessions, her memoir exploring decolonisation, academia and identity from the standpoint of growing up the child of Anglo-Burmese parents in Britain. She also talks about featuring elements of the fantastic in non-fiction, how class affects access to books, and shifting attitudes to Englishness in the work of writers with migrant heritage.

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The author of Read Yourself Happy joins host Ann Morgan to discuss the National Year of Reading and how spending time with books can help ease anxiety, as well as her new novel, All Grown Up, a modern-day retelling of Little Women. In addition, the conversation touches on Daisy's journey to sobriety, the influence of the sea on the writing process, and managing the requirement for authors to market themselves on social media.

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In this special episode to mark the centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh, comic strip artist and author Sally Kindberg and host Jonathan Tulloch explore the legacy of AA Milne, and discuss Kindberg's experiences as an accidental travel journalist, a reluctant mudlarker, and the curator of a museum of dust.

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www.rlf.org.uk

Daniel Hahn discusses his latest book on translating Shakespeare, explains why books should be labelled if they're translated by AI and considers whether there's really such a thing as translator's block.

© Royal Literary Fund

www.rlf.org.uk