In the first of two conversations recorded for the Eastbourne LitFest podcast, Dame Jacqueline Wilson sits down with Festival Director Jane Branson and lifelong fan Anna Branson to talk about a writing life that has now produced an average of two and a half books a year.

She reflects on her post-war childhood in a house with few books, on the local library that fed her omnivorous reading, and on knowing at the age of six — much to her mother's astonishment the night before her tonsil operation — that she wanted to be a writer. She traces the chance newspaper advert that took her to Dundee at seventeen to work for DC Thomson, and the writing routine she still keeps today: mornings in pyjamas, another quiet hour before supper while her wife cooks.

She lifts the lid just a little on her new book, Esme Pepper, due this autumn — another girl in care, but a very different girl from Tracy Beaker, and one whose story somehow involves garden gnomes. Answering questions sent in by local schoolchildren and Instagram followers, she explains why she writes about children at the edges of family life rather than the comfortable middle, which of her own characters she'd most like to live as, the one subject she long resisted writing about, and the classic she thinks is overdue a fresh retelling.

Part two picks up with the question we leave hanging here: if she could give every child three books at birth, what would they be?

Welcome to "Desert Island Books".

In this new format Eastbourne Literary Festival podcast episode, people are asked to share with us the 5 books that mean the most to them and why. This episode explores 5 books that mean the world to author and technologist, Charles Humble, including:

For our 10th episode we are joined by the wonderful M.J. Buckman, local author of the award winning book “Bent is not Broken” and recently her second book, “Women of Note”.

Some of the references from this show:

For our ninth episode we are joined by a local Eastbourne writer whose debut work, it’s not exaggeration to say, defies convention and reshapes genres. Ed Bingham is the author of Broadlake — an extraordinary novel written entirely in verse, where poetry and storytelling converge to unravel a haunting mystery from beyond the veil of death.

Ed has also just published a picturebook especially for a younger audience called “The Kind Wasp” and is working on a new novel “The Five O’Clock Club” to be published in 2026.

Some of the references from this show include:

For our eighth episode we are joined by a writer who has been a supporter and fan of our festival since our very early days.

Louise Morrish is a historical fiction author and librarian from Hampshire. She writes stories inspired by the lives of women in the past, who achieved extraordinary things, but whom history has forgotten.

Her debut novel was Operation Moonlight and it won the Penguin Random House First Novel competition. Just recently Louise has also released her new novel “Women of War”.

Some of the references from this show include:

In our seventh episode we are joined by Charles Humble. Charles is an author, editor, podcaster, and technology consultant. He's also a former software engineer, architect and CTO. He was editor-in-chief at online publication InfoQ from 2014-2020, and was chief editor for Container Solutions technology consultancy from 2020-2023.

Charles writes regularly for many publications, is a highly experienced content strategist, and has spoken at many international conferences. Most recently Charles has published “The Developer's Guide to Cloud Infrastructure , Efficiency and Sustainability” at TheNewStack and he’s a valued member of the Software Inklings, an online community that look to provide a friendly environment for writers in technology to flourish.

Some of the references from this show include:

In our sixth episode of the Eastbourne Literary Festival podcast we had the pleasure to talk with Julia Raeside, debut author of brilliant novel, "Don't Make Me Laugh".

As well as now being a best-selling novelist, Julia Raeside is a journalist and broadcaster who has written for the Guardian, Times, Observer and The Big Issue among others. She makes regular contributions to BBC Radio, including review spots on Radio 4s Front Row and Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music show.

These podcasts are such a joy and we had such a wonderful time chatting with Julia about how she writes, reads and embraces having her brilliant debut novel, "Don't Make Me Laugh" now out on the shelves.

Some of the references from this episode:

In our fifth episode of the Eastbourne Literary Festival podcast we had the pleasure to talk with L. M. Chilton, bestselling author of“Don’t Swipe Right” and, as of the 13th March 2025, “Everyone in the group chat dies!”.

Luke has been a journalist for 15 years, working for TV shows like This Morning, The One Show and Loose Women, as well as magazines and newspapers such as The Times, The Mirror, Metro, New!, Cosmopolitan and Glamour. As well as exploring his unhealthy-but-wonderful thematic obsession with serial killers, we enjoyed a wonderful chat around how Luke writes, how he approaches writing deep and rich female characters and the trepidation and wonders of television and film book adaption.

In our fourth episode of the Eastbourne Literary Festival podcast we had the pleasure to talk with author Molly Anderson. Molly is the author of the incredible memoir, “Dad’s New Dress”.

In our third episode of the Eastbourne Literary Festival podcast we had the pleasure to talk with local author, Jake R. Wilson. Jake is the author of “Cursed Tales: The Pharaoh of Asco Express” and “Sar Wylda and the Legendary Goldbreaker”.