Storyshaped

What a treat we have for you all this week, Storyshaped fans! This week, we're talking to Nicola Penfold, the brilliant author of Where the World Turns Wild, Between Sea and Sky, and Beyond the Frozen Horizon. All Nicola's books have a huge emphasis on the natural world and the place of humans within it, and the interplay between the ecology surrounding us and the emotional landscape within. Her books have an ultimately hopeful message, empowering readers young and old with the power and beauty of the natural world all around us - and as well as that, they're incredibly gripping adventures, too. Come with us as we take a trip through Nicola's bookish memories, and discover the stories which shaped her into the author, and climate activist, she is today.

Nicola's website is: www.nicolapenfold.com

Follow her on Twitter: @nicolapenfold

Follow her on Instagram: @nicolapenfoldauthor

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

Where The World Turns Wild

Between Sea and Sky

Beyond the Frozen Horizon

and also...

The books of Shirley Hughes

Spot the Dog by Eric Hill

The work of Enid Blyton, including the Famous Five and the Malory Towers books, and The Island of Adventure and The Ship of Adventure

The Jill books by Ruby Ferguson

The Jinny and Shantih books by Patricia Leitch

The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell

The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann

Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw by SF Said

The pony books of Christine and Josephine Pullein-Thompson

The Sadlers Wells ballet books by Lorna Hill

A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively

The Way to Sattin Shore by Philippa Pearce

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence

Calling B for Butterfly by Louise Lawrence

The Last Storyteller by Donna Barba Higuera (The Last Cuentista in the US/Canada)

The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail

Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

Talking in Whispers James Watson

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I Am David by Anne Holm

The Silver Sword Ian Seraillier

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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, Susan and Sinéad welcome the fantastic ER (Elizabeth) Murray to the podcast, for a freewheeling and wide-ranging discussion about how books not only shape lives, but also save lives. Elizabeth shares the books that gave her solace and shelter as a young reader, the stories which shape her reading now - including her interest in reading beyond her own cultural sphere, with the aim of enriching her writerly craft - and the first book where, she says, voices and experiences like hers were reflected on the page. Come and join us for this fantastic episode of Storyshaped.

Find Elizabeth online at:

www.twitter.com/ermurray

www.instagram.com/elizabethrosemurray

Elizabeth's Website

Books mentioned in this episode include Elizabeth's own:

The Book of Learning, ER Murray

The Book of Shadows, ER Murray

The Book of Revenge, ER Murray

Caramel Hearts, ER Murray

Women on Nature, ed. Katharine Norbury

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Brambly Hedge, written and illustrated by Jill Barklem

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray

Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

Wuthering Heights, by Charlotte Bronte

Kestrel for a Knave, by Barry Hines

Sweet Valley Twins/Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal

Other Words for Smoke, by Sarah Maria Griffin

Junk, by Melvin Burgess

Tangleweed and Brine, by Deirdre Sullivan

Savage Her Reply, by Deirdre Sullivan

Interview With the Vampire, by Anne Rice

Flowers in the Attic, by Virginia Andrews

Jill's Gymkhana, by Ruby Ferguson

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto

Collected Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Collected Poems, by Seamus Heaney

His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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's episode sees Sinéad having a fantastically wide-ranging discussion with the brilliant Helenka Stachera, author of The Ice Whisperers and Fin and the Memory Curse. Helenka's books draw on many of the stories she grew up with, and had told to her as a young girl - and having grown up in a fairytale-like yellow brick house in the woods, she has always had a fascination with traditional folktales, which have had a definite impact on her life and work. Come with us as we delve into the rich tapestry of Helenka's Storyshaped life!

You can find Helenka on Twitter @HStachera

Books mentioned in this episode include Helenka's own:

The Ice Whisperers, Helenka Stachera

Fin and the Memory Curse, Helenka Stachera

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Aesop's Fables

The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

The Quick by Lauren Owen

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Goose Girl (traditional)

The Consequence Girl by Alastair Chisholm

Gender-Swapped Fairytales by Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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.

Today's podcast is a wonderful chat with the bilingual author Sadhbh Devlin, whose Irish-language picturebooks have established her as a leading light on the Irish kidlit scene. We get to know a bit more about the stories that shaped Sadhbh, including a book which is one of Susan and Sinéad's all time favourites, and we get to imagine how cool it would be to have a dad like Sadhbh's, who had a tab at his local bookshop! Come with us as we wander through Sadhbh's bookish life, and pick up a gem or two along the way.

You can find Sadhbh on Twitter @sadhbhdevlin or Instagram @sadhbhdevlin or her website: http://sadhbhdevlin.ie/

Books mentioned in this episode include Sadhbh's own:

Bí Ag Spraoí Liom, Sadhbh Devlin and illustrated by Tarsila Kruse

Beag Bídeach, Sadhbh Devlin and illustrated by Róisín Hahessy

Geansaí Ottó, Sadhbh Devlin and illustrated by Róisín Hahessy

Amuigh Faoin Spéir, Sadhbh Devlin and illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald

Morning is a Little Child by Joan Walsh Anglund

Peepo by Joan and Allan Ahlberg

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard

Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice Through the Needle's Eye by Gilbert Adair

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Doll's House by Rumer Godden

Hounds of the Mórrígan by Pat O'Shea

The Battle Below Giltspur by Cormac MacRaois

An tOllamh agus an Luchóg by Tomás O' Toole and Pauline Cummins

Thirty-Two Words for Field by Manchán Magan

Scúnc agus Smúirín by Muireann Ní Chíobháin and Paddy Donnelly

Míp by Myra Zepf and Paddy Donnelly

Nóinín by Myra Zepf

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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 Paul Coomey to the podcast! He's an author/illustrator, originally from Cork (like our very own Susan) and now living in the UK with his wife, the artist Tanvi Kant. We had such fun discussing books, stories, art, illustration, survival in the wild (!), libraries, castles, and the joy of learning to read. Come and join us as we Get Storyshaped.

Books mentioned in this episode include Paul's own - Stickboy and Stickboy: Rise of the Robots (Little Tiger Press)

Paul's website: www.stickboy.tv

Follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/mrcoomey

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Asterix created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

Tintin created by Hergé

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

Frostheart by Jamie Littler

Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

Grimm's Tales

The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss

Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Two Sides by Polly Ho-Yen

Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Making Comics by Scott McCloud

The Beano, founded by R.D. Low

Paddington Bear by Michael Bond

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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.

Our special guest on Storyshaped today is children's author and artist Eve McDonnell!

Eve has written the exquisite Elsetime (published by Everything With Words in 2020), and her second novel The Chestnut Roaster is coming on October 27th, 2022, also from Everything With Words. She is an artist and graphic designer, a mum of twins, and an experienced workshop facilitator - as well as a Wonderlarker, a word of her own coining, which means she tries to see the Wonder in everything... Sounds like perfect Storyshaped material!

Eve talks about the stories - and the non-fiction books - which have shaped her and her work, and which have guided her career to date, and shares some of her wisdom about how to encourage children to find themselves in stories and in books.

Eve's website: https://startsomewhereblogbyeve.wordpress.com/

The books mentioned in today's podcast include:

Elsetime by Eve McDonnell

The Chestnut Roaster by Eve McDonnell

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Supernature by Lyall Watson

Contest for the Heavens by Klaus Jensen

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Suite Francaise by Iréne Nemirovsky

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono

Here is an article about the edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that Eve speaks about, including the illustrations that shaped her so much: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/w-w-denslow-illustrations-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-1900

And the Ladybird edition of The Elves and the Shoemaker is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl6QqhE7M_E

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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're delighted to welcome our very first guest to Storyshaped! Today, we're talking to Olivia Hope, author of the brilliant picturebook Be Wild, Little One (published by Bloomsbury, 2022; illustrated by Daniel Egnéus). Listen in, and discover the books that made Olivia the person and writer she is today, the stories that shaped her, and the stories she has shaped. Learn about her work, her upcoming projects, and the picturebook she thinks is the best ever.

Olivia's website: https://www.darleyandersonchildrens.com/authors/olivia-hope

Bloomsbury's Be Wild, Little One page: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/be-wild-little-one-9781408884805/

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Be Wild, Little One by Olivia Hope and Daniel Egnéus

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky

Luna Loves Library Day by Joseph Coelho and Fiona Lumbers

Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler

Run With the Wind by Tom McCaughren

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

A Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck

Poems by Mary Oliver

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Such Stuff by Michael Morpurgo

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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.

It's a minipod! Susan and Sinéad are sort of on holiday this week, so this wee podcast is designed to keep you ticking over until we're back again with a VERY SPECIAL GUEST EPISODE next week. Today we're comparing and contrasting the books we're currently reading and loving, going head-to-head with them to see which one comes out on top... Who will it be? Tune in and find out!

The books we're talking about today are Juno Dawson's HER MAJESTY'S SECRET COVEN and Sharon Gosling's THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE OF KATY WILLACOTT. Both these books should be available from our partner bookshops; see below for details!

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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.

In this episode, Susan and Sinéad revisit a book which haunted both their childhoods - Catherine Storr's 1958 fantasy classic Marianne Dreams. We get deep inside the symbolism of this brilliant little book, discussing the nature of dreams and fantasy and how stories contain universes. Come with us as we watch Marianne and Mark battle their way past the Watchers... Sit with us on the grass as we ask ourselves what the enigmatic ending of this book is really trying to say... And try not to laugh at Sinéad's visceral terror reactions to the Terrible Awful Very Scary Things in this book (stones! With *eyes*!)

Referenced in this podcast:

"Musty Books: 'Marianne Dreams' by Catherine Storr (1958); a blog article on The Haunted Generation with Bob Fischer, July 6, 2020

"I Write to Frighten Myself": Catherine Storr and the Development of Children's Literature Studies in Britain; Kimberley Reynolds, Children's Literature in Education 50, 449-463, 2019

Fear and Evil in Children's Books; Catherine Storr, Children's Literature in Education 1, 22-40, 1970

The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images, Taschen

Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

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.

In this episode, Susan and Sinéad do a deep dive into one of Susan's 'soul book's - Diana Wynne Jones' classic Charmed Life. Come with us as we discuss the issues of power and responsibility the novel deals with, as well as a very serious scholarly debate about who is more of a 'peacock' - Chrestomanci or Wizard Howl - and an appreciation for Gwendolen Chant, the most unapologetically evil character in children's literature. We discuss the idea of multiple worlds and the mechanics of travelling between them, and how important it is for Cat, the book's protagonist, to finally step into his own potential, and we share a little about how the masterful Diana Wynne Jones has influenced both of us as writers and as people.

Referenced in the episode is the work of:

Aishwara Subramanian: "'So Would You Mind Telling Me Where I Am? It's a Stately Home of Some Kind, Isn't It?' (Charmed Life)", proceedings of the Diana Wynne Jones Conference, 2019

Robin Stevens: Keynote Address, Diana Wynne Jones Conference, 2019

Diana Wynne Jones' own words from Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, 2012

To buy any of the books mentioned in this episode see our Irish and UK bookshop info below:

Our Irish bookshop partner is Halfway Up the Stairs bookshop in Wicklow: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie

In the UK, check out our storefront on https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclosure: 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.