Mostly Book Talk

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 - 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 including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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 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' Lit Fest. 

Further information about the festival can be found here.

If you run an organisation or an event that supports children and young people's reading and would like to have a converstation about what you do any special activities you are running for the National Year of Reading and how people can join in, do get in touch via our website www.mostlybooktalk.com

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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 including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

 At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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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 illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up! and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Fall and Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

 At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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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 Eid Presents?

Show Racism the Red Card (out Sept 2026)

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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.

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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 that we talk to Barbara Band about her new book Championing Your School Library - a practical guide to advocacy, marketing and promotion which is of interest to both school librarians - in making sure everyone knows what the library offers and values it - and teachers who may not yet be using their school library to its full potential.

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We talk to Nathanael Lessore about his very successful debut and follow up books, about what's important when writing for teens and the role of humour.

You can find Nate's books here:

Teen/KS3 Books

Steady for This

King of Nothing

What Happens Online

Middle Grade Books

Solving Crimes is NOT my Superpower

Time Travel is NOT my Superpower

SAIL Fest (South Asian Children's Illustration and Literature)

To find out more about SAIL Fest have a look on their website.

And to check out all the authors that were there have a look here.

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Just in time for National Poetry Day, we have an interview with Dr Julie Blake the founder and co-director of Poetry by Heart. Working with schools across the whole of England, over 128,000 pupils take part every year, learning poems by heart and performing them. 

There are lots of fantastic clips on their website of young people performing and all the information you need to sign up this year. And it is completely free to do so.

We also talk about Ross Montgomery's latest books - lots to recommend here. For children there is Small Wonder and for adults The Murder at World's End . Enjoy!

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Author Ashley Thorpe joins us to talk about his middle grade books The Boy to Beat the Gods and Spirit Warriors. Find out about how he was inspired by West African and Jamaican mythology and how long it really does take to have a breakout success as your debut book.

There is also a new Loki book out by Louie Stowell - A Bad God's Guide to Causing Chaos and there is a giveaway for a signed copy (UK only) - details will be on our socials. Also find out about her Lokifesto.

If you are looking for any of the books we talk about on the podcast, they can be found in our Bookshop.org shop here (and if you buy them we earn a small commission and a donation also goes to support independent bookshops). Win, Win.

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