Storyshaped

We don't have *much* in common with the Terminator around here, it must be said, but one of the things we do share is this: we come back. So, here we are! This is a special LIVE episode, recorded in May 2025 at the brilliant International Literature Festival Dublin in front of an audience of Kieran Larwood fans (and, perhaps, one or two who were there to see us), and we had the most fun. We chatted fantasy, Tolkien, the powers of maps as ways into story, 90s music, and loads more.

Our very special thanks to the team at International Literature Festival Dublin for facilitating this dream come true for us - it has long been our ambition to record a live episode, and we were delighted to get the chance to do just that as part of this fantastic festival, which happens in Dublin in May every year. We hope the recording gives you a flavour of how much we enjoyed talking to Kieran and getting an insight into his very special Storyshaped life.

PLEASE NOTE: The audio didn't pick up the audience, so during question time, the questions we are responding to are as follows:

1. What children's book that you read as an adult do you wish you'd read as a child?
2. Will we find out more about the Ancients?

Books mentioned in this week's episode include:

The work of Enid Blyton

The work of JRR Tolkien

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula le Guin

The Moomins, by Tove Jansson

The Hounds of the Morrigan, by Pat O'Shea

The World Between the Rain, by Susan Cahill

Fighting Fantasy book series, created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone

Stone of Farewell, by Tad Williams

The work of Robin Hobb

Mort, by Terry Pratchett

The work of Terry Pratchett, especially the Tiffany Aching series

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett

Watership Down, by Richard Adams

Neuromancer, by William Gibson

Escape Room: Game Zero, by Christopher Edge

I Am Wolf, by Alastair Chisholm

The Bone Ships, by RJ Barker

October, October, by Katya Balen

The Storm and the Sea Hawk, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I Am Raven, by Alastair Chisholm

A Fix of Light, by Kel Menton

On Midnight Beach, by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick

The work of Jamie Littler, esp. Frostheart

The music of Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Soundgarden

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In this special mini-sode of Storyshaped, I (Sinéad) sat down with Ruth Ennis (writer, book-expert, book reviewer, general Queen of Irish children's and YA literature and legend in her own lifetime) to discuss something close to both our hearts: the situation in Palestine.

Nobody will be unaware of the reality; the situation in Palestine, and in particular in Gaza, has been described as 'genocide' by bodies such as Médecins sans Frontieres, the United Nations, and Amnesty International. Innocent civilians have been mercilessly killed, day and night, for almost the past two years, and the onslaught has had a particularly horrific impact on Palestinian children.

As authors for children and young people, Ruth and I couldn't stand by and do nothing. So, we set up the Irish KidLit for Palestine Fundraiser, which runs between August 4th and 17th, 2025.

Our chosen charity is Medical Aid for Palestinians, who can be found HERE

And the link to the Irish KidLit for Palestine Fundraiser, where you can help us to raise money AND get yourself some snazzy kidlit-related goodies, is HERE

Our sincere thanks to the 30+ authors, illustrators, artists and creatives who made this Fundraiser possible by donating their work and their time. Míle buíochas!

Stay tuned for more Storyshaped in the autumn.

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So, if we sound a bit giddy on this week's episode, that's because we were! Head-whirlingly, we got to speak to Patrice Actual Lawrence, who is one of the most accomplished authors around. Patrice has written for all age groups, from picturebooks right up to YA (with equal aplomb), and her journey to creating this masterful body of work is an interesting one. Come with us as she takes us through her Storyshaped life.

Books mentioned in this week's episode include Patrice's own:

Orangeboy

Indigo Donut

Eight Pieces of Silva

Needle

Rose, Interrupted

Is That Your Mama? illustrated by Diane Ewen

Elemental Detectives

People Like Stars

And the stories which shaped her include:

Pig-Heart Boy, by Malorie Blackman

Malory Towers, by Enid Blyton (and Patrice's own New Class At Malory Towers)

Rainbow Magic, by 'Daisy Meadows'

The work of John Agard

The work of Grace Nicols

The work of Julia Donaldson

The work of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Stephen King

The work of Jenny Downham, especially Before I Die

The story of Jonathan Strong, an enslaved man in 18thC London

The Rivers of London (series), by Ben Aaronovitch

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Dr Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting

The Railway Children, by E Nesbit

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Diddakoi, by Rumer Godden

Our Beautiful Darkness, by Onjaki, ill. Antonio Jorge Goncalves, trans. Lyn Miller-Lachman

A Guest in the House, by Emily Carroll

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe, by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - the book Sinéad was trying to recall!

Tsunami Girl, by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel

Rumblefish, by SE Hinton

The Body, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Pet Sematary, all by Stephen King

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we were honoured to speak to an undisputable Queen of Children's Literature - Julie Sykes! Julie is the author of well over a hundred books, many of them co-written with the equally excellent Linda Chapman. Her bestselling series include the Netflix-adapted The Unicorn Academy, but throughout Julie's almost thirty year career she has written for the youngest children right up to teens. Come with us for a brilliant insight into Julie's life, career, work - and just how she keeps her creative flame lit, even after all these years.

Find Julie online at her website: www.juliesykes.co.uk

Find out more about International Literature Festival Dublin at www.ilfdublin.com

Tickets for the LIVE Storyshaped event are available here: LIVE STORYSHAPED PODCAST EVENT

Tickets for Susan's solo event are available here: DISCOVER THE MAGICAL WORLD BETWEEN THE RAIN

Tickets for Sinéad's solo event are available here: THE SUN, THE MOON, AND TWO STARS

Books mentioned in this week's episode include some of Julie's own:

The Unicorn Academy series (co-written with Linda Chapman; illustrated by Lucy Truman)

The Mermaid Academy series (co-written with Linda Chapman; illustrated by Lucy Truman)

The Woodland Magic series (illustrated by Katy Riddell)

The Perfect Puppies series

The Princess Ponies series

And the stories that shaped her include:

The work of Enid Blyton

Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome

The Punchbowl series, by Monica Edwards

The Romney Marsh series, by Monica Edwards

Carbonel: The King of the Cats, by Barbara Sleigh

Diary of an Accidental Witch, by Honor and Perdita Cargill

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner

The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien

Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian

The Great Elephant Chase, by Gillian Cross

The work of Dominique Valente

Greenwild: The World Behind the Door, by Pari Thompson

The Hedgewitch series, by Skye McKenna

The Wycherleys, by Annaliese Avery

The work of Harriet Muncaster

esp. Diary of Whisker Wildflower, by Harriet Muncaster

The work of Hilary McKay

esp. Rosa by Starlight, Saffy's Angel, and Indigo Star (all by Hilary McKay)

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We had a totally magical walk through picturebook author Mariesa Dulak's Storyshaped life on the podcast today, which took us all the way from Barbados to Harrogate, and plenty of other places besides! From nursery rhymes to Stephen King, and William Blake to Barbara Throws a Wobbler, join us as we follow Mariesa through the fantastic collection of tales (both written and spoken) that have shaped her work and made her the person she is today. Let's go!

Find Mariesa online at her website: www.mariesadulak.com

Books mentioned in this week's episode include Mariesa's own:

There's a Tiger on the Train (ill. Rebecca Cobb)

The Silver Shadow (ill. Alea Marley)

And the stories which shaped her include:

Nursery rhymes and songs told and sung to her by her parents

The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm

One Thousand and One Nights/Arabian Nights, folktales from the Islamic Golden Age

The Flower Fairies, by Cicely Mary Barker

The work of Alison Uttley

Winnie the Pooh: Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace, by AA Milne and EH Shepard

The work of Dr Seuss

The Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis

The Worst Witch, by Jill Murphy

The work of Enid Blyton

Fungus the Bogeyman, by Raymond Briggs

The Tinderbox (fairytale)

The work of Roald Dahl

The work of Stephen King

Blubber, by Judy Blume

Forever, by Judy Blume

The work of John Agard

The work of Benjamin Zephaniah

The work of Malorie Blackman

Little Soldier, by Bernard Ashley

Flower Block, by Lanisha Butterfield (illustrated by Hoang Giang)

Out of the Blue, by Robert Tregoning (illustrated by Stef Murphy)

Songs of Innocence and Experience, by William Blake

Tyger, by SF Said

Skellig, by David Almond

Not Now, Bernard, by David McKee

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

Barbara Throws a Wobbler, by Nadia Shireen

The work of Julia Donaldson

The work of Janet and Allan Ahlberg

The Cafe at the End of the Woods, by Mikey Please

The Full Stop that Got Away, by Laura Baker (illustrated by Nathan Reed)

Butter, by Asako Yuzuki

The Island of Brilliant podcast, hosted by Nadia Shireen and Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well - whew! Get ready for this week's episode, Storyshapers, because it's a whirlwind of mythology, folklore, history, archaeology and magic, all thanks to the enthralling Ellen Ryan. Ellen is a journalist and author, who likes to spend time visiting archaeological sites, researching the richness of Ireland's folklore, mythology, and history, and creating fantastic, inclusive, immersive, and lovingly constructed tales and retellings of some stories we might *think* we know... Come on a wander through the landscape of old Ireland with Ellen, and find out how she's Storyshaped.

Find Ellen online at her agent's website: https://belllomaxmoreton.co.uk/childrens-fiction/ellen-ryan

Books mentioned in this week's episode include Ellen's own:

Girls Who Slay Monsters (ill. Shona Shirley MacDonald)

Gods Don't Cry (ill. Conor Merriman)

And the stories that have shaped her include:

Under the Hawthorn Tree, by Marita Conlon-McKenna

The work of Siobhan Parkinson

Flight of the Doves, by Walter Macken

The Milly McCarthy series, by Leona Forde

The Hounds of the Morrigan, by Pat O'Shea

The work of Patricia Lynch

The Táin, ed. and modernised by Thomas Kinsella, illustrations by Louis le Brocquy

The Corpus of Electronic Texts (The UCC CELT Project)

The Book of the Elders, eds. Ann Dooley and Harry Rowe

The work of John Carey, medievalist and language scholar

esp. Magic, Metallurgy, and Imagination in Medieval Ireland, by John Carey

The work of Daniel Curley, archaeologist and guide at Rathcroghan Royal Site and Visitor Centre)

Ireland's Immortals, by Mark Williams

The work of Miranda Green

The Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, ed. Miranda Green

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we had the JOY of chatting to the very funny, very talented, very lovely Catherine Wilkins (or you might know her as Catie, if you're a fan of her stand-up comedy). She brought us on a wondrous meander through her Storyshaped life, from the country of Disney to the tales of Mossycoat - and everything in between! Come with us as we wander through the stories that have shaped her life and work, and get ready for a dose of major 80s cartoon nostalgia. 'For the honour of Greyskull... I am She-Ra!'

Find Catherine online at her website: www.catherinewilkins.co.uk

Books mentioned in this week's episode include Catherine's own:

My Best Friend and Other Enemies

My Brilliant Life and Other Disasters

My School Musical and Other Punishments

My Great Success and Other Failures

When Good Geeks Go Bad

The Weird Friends Fan Club

You're Not the Boss of Me!

Café Chaos

And the stories which have shaped her include:

She-Ra (80s cartoon and the modern remake)

The movies of Disney

The Mysterious Cities of Gold (cartoon)

Ulysses 31 (cartoon)

The Twits, by Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr Fox, by Roald Dahl

The Magic Finger, by Roald Dahl

The Demon Headmaster, by Gillian Cross

The Worst Witch (series), by Jill Murphy

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

The Harry Potter books, by JK Rowling

Catwitch, by Lisa Tuttle and Una Woodruff

Norse Mythology, particularly a book owned by Catherine's dad

Collected Fairy Tales, particularly an edition owned by Catherine's dad, which included the tale Mossycoat

And... The Rabbit That Jumped Too High, by Catherine Wilkins, aged 6! *heart-eye emojis*

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've only gone and snagged the fantastic, prolific, and very wonderful Helen Peters for the podcast - and it's her turn in the hotseat today! We were charmed to take a stroll through the Storyshaped life of an author described as 'one of our finest modern children's storytellers' by Waterstones (who, to be fair, know their stuff), and we learned all about how Helen's childhood was shaped as much by the farm she grew up on as it was by the stories she surrounded herself with. These stories not only shaped her, but they shaped her brilliant creative output, too. Come on - pull yer wellies on and let's get going.

Books mentioned on this week's episode include Helen's own:

Friends and Traitors

Anna at War

Evie's Ghost

The Jasmine Green series

The Secret Henhouse Theatre trilogy

Find Helen at: helenpetersbooks.com

And the stories that shaped her include:

Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne, illustrations by E.H. Shepard

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

Tarka the Otter, by Henry Williamson

The picturebooks of Molly Brett

Brambly Hedge, by Jill Barklem

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

What Katy Did, by Susan Coolidge

Heidi, by Johanna Spyri

Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild

Curtains Up, by Noel Streatfeild

The Growing Summer, by Noel Streafeild

The Famous Five series, by Enid Blyton

The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton

The St Clare's series, by Enid Blyton

Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm, by Enid Blyton

The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Casson Family series, by Hilary McKay

The Exiles, by Hilary McKay

Millions, by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Framed, by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Holes, by Louis Sachar

Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead

The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

Cue for Treason, by Geoffrey Trease

King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we welcome Alastair Chisholm - yes, only the brilliant, prolific, award-winning, award-nominated picturebook and middle grade author - to the podcast, and we hope you'll join us for the journey! Alastair has written about starships lost in space, about characters who can see back through time, about huge mecha-animals powered by human will, and - best of all - about ninja frogs, and that's just to name some of the books in his incredible back catalogue. Come with us as he takes us through the stories that have shaped him, and which continue to shape his world and his work.

Books mentioned in this week's episode include some of Alastair's own:

The Dragon Storm series, illustrated by Eric Deschamps

The Consequence Girl

Orion Lost

Adam-2

I Am Wolf

I Am Raven

And the stories which have shaped him include:

The Silmarillion, by JRR Tolkien

The Grey King, by Susan Cooper

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner

Charmed Life, by Diana Wynne Jones

Homeward Bounders, by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Archer's Goon, by Diana Wynne Jones

Asterix, by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (et al)

The Eagle comic, founded by Marcus Morris

2000 AD, created by Kelvin Gosnell, Pat Mills, John Wagner

The Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis

The work of Nicholas Fisk

The work of Jan Mark

The work of Isaac Asimov

The work of Robert Heinlein

The Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison

The Best of Harry Harrison - short story anthology

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, by Stephen Donaldson

Zenith, by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell

The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway (Alastair's edition has illustrations by CF Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard)

The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham

The work of Sir Terry Pratchett

Legend, by David Gemmell

Master and Commander (series), by Patrick O'Brian

Sword of the Sun, by Sinéad O'Hart

The World Between the Rain, by Susan Cahill

Wren, by Lucy Hope

A Kind of Spark, by Elle McNicoll

Sticky Pines: The Bigwoof Conspiracy, by Dashe Roberts

Bird Boy, by Catherine Bruton

Dungeon Runners, by Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd Stanton

The work of Christopher Edge

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were beside ourselves with glee this week as we sat for a chat with the brilliant Celine Kiernan, an artist who has been influencing - and Storyshaping - our lives since way before she began writing her brilliant children's books. Celine's career began in the animation industry, where she was part of the team who brought the world such incredible tales as The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go To Heaven, An American Tail, and more - and we got the pleasure of chatting to her about that time in her life, as well as her own work, and the stories which have shaped her incredible literary and artistic output. This one was super-special. Come and join us, won't you? Somewhere out there...

Books mentioned in this week's episode include Celine's own:

The Moorehawke Trilogy (The Poison Throne, The Crowded Shadows, The Rebel Prince)

Into the Grey

The Wild Magic Trilogy (Begone the Raggedy Witches, The Little Grey Girl, The Promise Witch)

Resonance

And the stories that shaped her include:

Twinkle, a periodical comic and annual

Little Grey Men, by BB

Down the Bright Stream, by BB

The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton

Judy magazine

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner

The Moon of Gomrath, by Alan Garner

The Mouse and his Child, by Russell Hoban

Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban

Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley

Something Wicked this Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

The Doll House (later, Tottie) by Rumer Godden

Ned Kelly and the City of the Bees, by Thomas Kenneally

The work of Raymond Chandler

The work of John Steinbeck

The work of Charles Dickens

The work of Ernest Hemingway

The short stories of Moira McHugh

Brides of Rollrock Island, by Margo Lanagan

Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

Savage Her Reply, by Deirdre Sullivan

Tangleweed and Brine, by Deirdre Sullivan

Piranesi, by Susannah Clarke

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susannah Clarke

The Small Hand: A Ghost Story, by Susan Hill

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie. You might also like to check out www.kennys.ie for free shipping within the Republic of Ireland!

In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.