Mostly Book Talk – Details, episodes & analysis

In part 5 we continue looking at what works to support reading for pleasure, focusing more this time on opportunities for authors to engage with readers and the importance of wider family and community involvement and spaces to discover and talk about books.

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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We are joined by author Sarah Crossan to talk about her new verse novel, Gone for Good . It is a read in one go thriller about the troubled teen industry. Sixteen-year-old Connie is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to a 'behaviour modification programme' at Silver Lake and quickly gets drawn into the mystery of where missing resident Belle has gone to.

We also talk about Sarah's thoughtful posts on social media about putting away our screens and reading for pleasure.

Sarah can be found on Instagram here.

And here are some of the books we discuss:

Gone for Good

Toffee

The Weight of Water

One

Where the Heart Should Be

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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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We are joined by Maisie Chan to talk about her latest book, Nate Yu's Blast from the Past. It's a draws on the untold history of the Chinese Labour Corps in WW1 in a story that combines a ghost story with a warm and humorous exploration of belonging, friendship and family. 

Look out for the event that Maisie mentions at the British Library in September which can be found here 

Maisie's website can be found here with lots more information about her books and other resources.

Her other books include:

Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths

Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu

Tiger Warrior: Attack of the Dragon King: Book 1

We also talked about books set at the seaside. These included:

The Last Pebble, by Alex Horne

Changing Tides, by Julia Moscardo

Our Pebbles, by Jarvis

Vanishing Edge, by Zillah Bethell

Turtle Moon, by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold

If you have any book recommendations or topics you would like us to cover, get in touch.  

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In this episode we talk with Justin Somper about the latest book in his Pirate Academy series, Sword Echoes. It came out in the UK in May and the series sets sail in Australia next week. Full of adventure and intrigue - perfect for a summer read. 

Justin can be found on Instagram here

And links to his books are below:

New Kid On Deck: Pirate Academy #1

Missing at Sea: Pirate Academy #2

Sword Echoes: Pirate Academy #3

Demons of the Ocean

Tide of Terror

The Week Junior's Book Awards can be found here

And the apps we talked about are (no sponsorship involved!)

The StoryGraph

Novellic

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We talk with Tom McLaughlin about his graphic novel Alan, King of the Universe. Alan is an orange cat convinced he is born to rule. Blessed with opposable thumbs and a side kick called Fido, he spends his days dreaming up ways to take up the universe.

Tom's website can be found here and here are some links to his books:

Alan King of the Universe

The Day that Aliens (nearly) Ate our Brains

The Day I Became the Most Wanted Boy in the World

The Accidental Prime Minister

You've Been Werewolfed

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