In the Reading Corner

Named after nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the  Wainwright prizes are awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and include a celebration of nature and our natural environmen…

A. M. Dassu is an English writer of fiction and non-fiction. In 2017, Dassu won the international. We Need Diverse Books mentorship award. Her bestselling debut novel, Boy Everywhere, was published i…

Naomi Walmsley runs Outback2Basics with her husband, Dan. She has a passion for teaching young people Stone Age education and Bushcraft, and she also runs some workshops for adults.

Naomi says, 'I lik…

Frances Hardinge is a British novelist whose debut novel, Fly by Night, won the Branford Boase Award in 2006 ( awarded to the writer and editor of the best debut children's novel).

In 2015 she won the…

Petr Horacek is a children's picturebook creator with a background in fine art. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and at the age of 15 attended the High School of Art in Prague, where he develope…

SF Said is a British children's writer with a Middle Eastern background. He was born in Beirut and spent his early childhood in Jordan.

His first novel, Varjak Paw, illustrated by Dave McKean, was pub…

Angela Sangma Francis, writing as Sangma Francis, worked as an in-house editor and writer for publisher Flying Eye before branching out as a full-time author.

Her two books, Everest and Amazon River p…

Manon Steffan Ros is a Welsh novelist, playwright, games author, scriptwriter and musician (being one half of the acoustic duo 'Blodau Gwylltion').

She is the author of over twenty children's books. …

Ian Livingstone is the co-founder with Steve Jackson of the phenomenally successful Fighting Fantasy Series.   Fighting Fantasy, which employs role play and board game strategies in the printed book,…

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a lawyer turned children's author who loves taking big ideas and making them accessible and exciting for young readers. Rashmi writes non-fiction picture books that ignite chil…

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and raised in an Italian and Trinidadian household. Her first book for young adults, Orangeboy, was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and won the B…

Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhat are the husband and wife team who wrote Lands of Belonging, a history of the South Asian countries that are intertwined with British history.

Vikesh is a Creative Director w…

James Dixon is a London-born, Glasgow-based novelist, poet, and playwright. His debut novel, The Unrivalled Transcendence of Willem J. Gyle (Thistle, 2017) was shortlisted for the 2018 Somerset Maugh…

Ewa Jozefkowicz grew up in Ealing, and studied English Literature at UCL. Her debut novel The Mystery of the Colour Thief, published by Zephyr in 2018, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s …

Nicolette Jones is the children's book editor of the Sunday Times, and she has been a reviewer, feature writer, diarist, and book-prize judge. In 2012, she was shortlisted for the Eleanor Farjeon awa…

Former teacher, Jonathan Tulloch, is a journalist,  writer and naturalist whose nature features appear regularly in The Times and The Tablet, His debut children's novel, Cuckoo Summer, was published …

Steve Cole has been a previous guest In The Reading Corner. We have talked about humour, comics and Dr Who. This time our conversation centres on four books important books that Steve has written for…

Craig Caudill is an award-winning educator, naturalist and writer. He spent his formative years hunting, fishing and playing in the woods of Kentucky. For five decades he has cultivated experiential …

Lauren Wolk is an American author, poet and editor. Born in Baltimore, she studied English literature at Brown University graduating in 1981. Wolk won a Newbery Honor in 2017 for her novel Wolf Hollo…

Atinuke was born and grew up in Nigeria. She writes children's books because she loves the vibrancy, joy, wisdom and humour of her  African culture, which forms the basis for most of her writing. She…