Short review of the moving and inspiring A British Childhood - How Our Children Live Now by @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social for @socialcaretoday.bsky.social: socialcare.today/2026/07/01/r...

🔥 Europe is starting to push Palantir out. Things are looking rough for Palantir in Europe… …as they are increasingly seen as a danger to sovereignty with a high risk of structural lock-in and major ethical concerns. Please share.

I hate to be the I Read That As Guy, but I read that as "expertise, slightly worn."

We're excited to say that @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social 's Laureate Lecture: ‘The Kids Are Not Alright’ is now available to watch in full! A powerful, deeply inspiring talk calling for urgent action to tackle the children’s reading crisis. https://youtu.be/_HvrXL50Vb4?si=we71W8Sip-htR-o_

“The water pressure isn’t great, but the broadband’s incredible” From the latest Private Eye, out now.

“How long does a man live after all?” A very special edition of Poetry Please today 4pm @BBCRadio4 in which Roger McGough celebrates the life & work of his friend Brian Patten, who died last year. He’s joined by admirers including Lemn Sissay #MerseySound www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

In you can face a low-effort scant half an hour at the stove this weekend, despite yen heat, #RecipeOfTheDay promises you the perfect dessert for a sultry summer evening: Arabian Pancakes with Orange Flower Syrup! 1/2 www.nigella.com/recipes/arab...

I suppose that there’s only so much that can be done in one go, but these seemed like an eminently good idea.

can’t believe a narcissist is being so publicly humiliated by a reflecting pool

Dear @iammilliam.bsky.social you are in this book ...

Have you pre-ordered your signed and dedicated copy of The Wild Ones by Steve Cole yet? Type "highfive" in the order notes at checkout and receive a free £5 National Book Token with your Wild Ones order TODAY ONLY. wonderlandbookshop.co.uk/product/the-... #kidlituk

Angry but hopeful

"When we're campaigning for a child's right to be a reader, what we're really campaigning for is their right to be happy" - @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social Watch Frank's flagship film to see what he's learnt as #ChildrensLaureate, and his hopes for the future as our #ReadingRights Ambassador! 📚

Quite shocked - and a little ticked off - that @theguardian.com with its large book section has had zero coverage of the @carnegiemedals.bsky.social Kids books are a HUGE part of the industry, and the Carnegie is essentially our Booker. What’s up with that, @theguardian.com ?

The Children in the Travelodge, an extract from Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s new book, via @liverpoolpost.bsky.social [photo of Frank Cottrell-Boyce] www.livpost.co.uk/the-children...

GLASGOW - Free kids event 2nd August 13.30 - meet Felicity Yeoh and hear her read The Kingdom of Tigers at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street www.waterstones.com/events/kingd...

It’s Roger Livesey’s birthday. The Life & Death of Col. Blimp is a favourite film & it’s largely due to the brilliant performances of Livesey and Anton Walbrook as lifelong friends from warring countries. This scene is sadly all too prescient about our current situation: youtu.be/vb2AlCaY_gk?...

My talk on Doctor Who writers David Whitaker and Terrance Dicks for @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social now up in full at m.youtube.com/watch?v=KzwN...

July 14th: Anatomy of a Story - a short story writing workshop with the award-winning Lucy Caldwell @lucycaldwell.bsky.social : www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/anatomy-of...

If the New Yorker says so, it must be true… Devotions is out in the US next week - along with Multitudes, Intimacies *and* Openings!

Caiu do Céu - Frank Cottrell Boyce

Debut author Beth O’Brien has won the Carnegie Medal for Writing for Wolf Siren (HarperCollins Children’s Books), a feminist reimagining of Red Riding Hood. #Carnegies2026 👇

Beth O'Brien has won the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Shadowers' Choice Award for her feminist reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood. Here's our very own Lynne Livingstone and Beth O'Brien, with a braille copy of Wolf Siren! Congratulations to Beth! @carnegiemedals.bsky.social #BookSky

Heel bijzonder. Voor het eerst heeft een Nederlander de prestigieuze Carnegie Medal gewonnen. Een Britse prijs voor de beste jeugdboekenillustraties. Aimée de Jongh ontving de prijs vandaag voor haar graphic novel Lord of the Flies, de verstripping van het bekende boek van William Golding

🎉Wolf Siren scores a double win, taking both the 2026 Carnegie Medal and the Shadower's Choice Medal for Writing! Congratulations to Beth O' Brien and HarperCollinsUK! #Carnegies2026

Great one page feature on this year's Kirkcudbright Fringe in this week's Galloway News. Highlights lots of attractions & big sellers including the Skids, Mhairi Black, Len Pennie & ex-NATO head George Robertson. Tickets for all these & more selling fast. Details: kbtfringe.co.uk

Are UK young people seeing the rich complexity of their lives depicted onscreen? I'll be chairing this online WGGB event with super panel @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social, @sangitamyska.bsky.social, Nigel Plaskitt, @emmajanereeves.bsky.social, and special guest appearance by Pipkins' Hartley Hare!

The cover for our forthcoming YA novel is getting closer. Break in the Sun was last published in 1980 and we wanted to retain the pink and yellow colourway of the original (with its echoes of Dreamland) in our new edition - intro by @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social and illustrated by Margo McDaid

Frank Cottrell-Boyce: The man with a plan to save British childhood: Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the outgoing children's laureate, uses his new book "A British Childhood" to make a heartfelt appeal for an end to "indifference," arguing that "it doesn't take much to make a … https://ranked.news/1020536?u=b

Excellent interview with Frank Cottrell-Boyce in which he points out the profound damage done to modern childhood by both austerity and the Covid lockdowns. Of course if you pointed out the latter at the time, you were accused of wanting to murder the elderly. observer.co.uk/culture/inte...

"It may present itself as the future, but it's really just the past refusing to die" - @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social really hitting the AI nail on the Spicy Aurocorrect head

Happy publication day to @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social and A BRITISH CHILDHOOD! We had a fantastic event in Stockport last night listening to Frank talk to Guy Garvey about the book and his time as Children’s Laureate - if you missed it, signed copies are available instore now!

This is a novel, btw, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In reviewing it, @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social said it elegantly incorporated themes of despair and remorse, and highlights "how though we are broken, we might still be of use."

Here we go

Two great events coming up this week: Mon 15 June: Caroline Aherne, Rebel in Disguise - David Scott in conversation w/ Terri White (Romiley) Wed 17 June: A British Childhood - Frank Cottrell-Boyce in conversation w/ Guy Garvey (Stockport) @arghkid.bsky.social @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social 🎫👇🏻

Children deserve to feel safe & happy. When so many don’t it’s a national emergency We at @childrenssociety.bsky.social completely agree Thank you @theobserveruk.bsky.social for this powerful editorial & @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social for your book (just ordered!) observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...

It turns out that when I'm made to look serious I look a bit like Red Cloud. observer.co.uk/culture/inte...

Almost all the excitable coverage I've heard of Musk becoming a trillionaire has failed to mention his enthusiasm for fascism, and his actual fomenting of racist violence on our streets a few days ago. Does nothing mean anything anymore? I feel like I'm going mad.

Another review for A British Childhood. The book comes out this week, so if you don't pre-order soon you'll only be ordering and not pre-ordering www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

This by @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future. Reading it made me furious. But also gave me a renewed sense of purpose (aware that sounds grandiose. But.) Maybe if you also work with or care about children, it will do the same for you.

Since 1980, under the Thatcherite policies, 2.8m social homes sold, 1.9m in England for £51bn. In 2024, England homes were worth £430bn. Councils didn't receive full sales proceeds, couldn't replenish housing stock. Vital depts closed. Social homes down from 6.8m to 5.4m. Huge housing crisis.

People will look back at us and think we went mad

Michael Morpurgo himself said 'No home, no school, and especially no library should be without this story and this book (A British Childhood). But what will that @nadiashireen.bsky.social say when we meet on the South Bank on Thursday? www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/fra...

A reminder that data centres are filled with computer servers, mostly running on their own. There are hardly any people in those enormous buildings.