My crime novel The Ice Beneath Me is now available to read as part of the Libraro Prize. Readers decide which books move forward by reading and championing their favorites. If you have time please head over and take a look. app.libraro.com/manuscript/d... #amwriting #booksky #LibraroPrize

FAKE DEADS IS LIVE!! Want a free e-copy of our new book? Just sign up for our newsletter here: mailchi.mp/f6bb9bab4527... (I'll be sending a code for a free epub in our March newsletter.)

The longlist for the 2026 #KlausFluggePrize is out! 18 talented debut picturebook illustrators are in the running. Congratulations to them all and to the editors, art directors and designers who helped create these books 🎉 #booksky #kidlituk booksforkeeps.co.uk/longlist-rev...

Mr Wolf is hungry & really fancies #pancakes. But will his #fairytale neighbours help him make them? storysnug.com/2017/02/mr-w... #MrWolfsPancakes #PancakeDay #ShroveTuesday #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #amreading #picturebooks #BookSky @janfearnley.bsky.social @farshorebooks.bsky.social

📣 Entries have opened in the 11th consecutive year of the First Novel Prize. Head over to www.firstnovel.co.uk to check out what our judges are looking for and send us your best work #amwriting #amediting #amquerying #writingcompetition #fictionwriting #firstnovelprize

Author Entries are open!!! Head to our website or go direct to the sign up form here!: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Lovely to see LITTLE HOME BIRD by Jo Empson in @storysnug.com's 'This is My Place' Children's Mental Health Week booklist about 'finding and creating homes and spaces where you can feel a sense of belonging' 🕊️ #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek @place2becharity.bsky.social

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 554: When choosing a title for your novel, make sure it sounds like fiction. Jame's Runcie's terrific novel, THE DISCOVERY OF CHOCOLATE, and Marina Lewyzca's A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRANIAN, were both repeatedly placed in the nonfiction section of bookshops.

Children’s chatter is here! 🖍️✨ Your one stop digest for children’s writers, illustrators, librarians, publishers and readers. Sign up here 👉 www.thebookseller.com/maili...

Thank you @amysparkes.bsky.social & @writersonline.bsky.social for organising the #picturebookprize & huge #congratulations to Alex & Zahrah 👏 I'm really excited that Garden Magic is a winner 💐 #amwriting #writingcommunity

#Picturebooks can often help children deal with feelings, problems & situations in which they may need support. With the theme ‘This is My Place’ in mind we’ve chosen books about finding & creating homes & spaces where you can feel a sense of belonging 🏡 #BooksThatHelp #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek

IT'S WEDNESDAY! It's #buyastrangerabook day! The grooviest day of all. I'll give out TWO books. FOR FREE. If you'd like one, let me know. Also, if you'd like to #BuyAStrangerABook too, let me know. It's a thing! Look. www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi... UK only.

#childrensmentalhealthweek: With @place2becharity.bsky.social's theme ‘This is My Place’ in mind we’ve chosen #picturebooks about finding & creating homes & spaces where you can feel a sense of belonging. storysnug.com/2026/02/this... #Booksky #StorySnug #amreading #booksthathelp #UKKidLit #KidLitUK

Join us tonight - Tues 10th Feb 8-9pm GMT for #ukteenchat with the fabulous @zeenagos.bsky.social who will be chatting all about her Teen/YA - This Dark Heart. All welcome to come along and join the chat 🙂 #writerslife #ThisDarkHeart #writingcommunity

They're here: the longlists for the #Carnegies2026. 19 books are on the longlist for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, including 5 past winners. Is your favourite here? Which of these books would you choose for the shortlist? @CarnegieMedals #booksky booksforkeeps.co.uk/carnegie-med...

Next #ukteenchat will be on Tues 10th Feb 8-9pm GMT with the fabulous @zeenagos.bsky.social who will be chatting all about her Teen/YA - This Dark Heart. All welcome to come along and join the chat 🙂 #ThisDarkHeart #YA #writerslife #writingcommunity

I'm very excited that my #picturebook is a #winner 🥉 Congratulations Alex & Zahrah - such intriguing titles! Thank you @amysparkes.bsky.social & @writersonline.bsky.social for organising the #picturebookprize 👏 #amwriting #writingcommunity

Good start to the week 😊 #Connections Puzzle #974 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩

I'm looking forward to meeting Gruffalo Granny 😊 www.bbc.com/news/article... #UkKidLit #KidLitUK #Gruffalo #Picturebook #JuliaDonaldson #AxelSheffler #Bookstagram

Good luck to everybody on the #picturebook #shortlist 🍀🍀🍀 I can't believe my story is on there 📚 #writingcommunity #amwriting #kidlit

Hello Writing Community! We are delighted to announce our Second Official Bluesky *** #MSWL Day *** February 26, 2026. 🎉🎉🎉 Agents + editors can post what they ✨wish✨ they had in their inboxes; writers can find their next best fit for querying. Learn more: manuscriptwishlist.com/2025/01/the-...

📣 Calling 18–25 year olds with an interest in art + writing! 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 led by poet Gustav Parker Hibbett takes place at TBG+S in the context of Dragana Jurisic’s exhibition 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘺. 🕙 Tues | 6–7:30pm 📆 10 + 17 Feb → www.templebargallery.com/whats-on/eve... #Art #Literature

IT'S WEDNESDAY! It's #buyastrangerabook day! The grooviest day of all. I'll give out TWO books. FOR FREE. If you'd like one, let me know. Also, if you'd like to #BuyAStrangerABook too, let me know. It's a thing! Look. biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi... UK only.

£500 given out to a working class writer every month. Details in link. Please share :)

Congratulations & good luck to everybody on the 2025 @writersonline.bsky.social #PictureBook #Longlist 🍀 I'm really excited that one of my #picturebooks made it 😊 #writingcommunity #amwriting #childrensbooks

I keep having to reread this! So excited that my #picturebook is on The Writing Magazine #longlist 📖 #amwriting #writingcommunity

Celebrating 10 years of #ukteenchat the fabulous 1st ever guests @ambercaraveo.bsky.social & @joannamoult.bsky.social of Skylark Literary will be joining me on Tues 3rd Feb 8-9pm GMT right here on BlueSky. Hope you see you there 🙂 #writingcommunity #writerslife #literaryagents #SkylarkLiterary

Are you 16–25 and love writing? Enter the Young Writer Award for a chance to win £500 and get published in the Bridport Prize anthology! Don’t forget to tick the age box when you submit. Enter now: bridportprize.org.uk/writers-room-categories/young-writer-award/ #YoungWriters

Tomorrow! Still time to sign up.

Join us on Tues 27th January 8-9pm GMT for #ukteenchat with the fabulous Monica Turner, who will be chatting all about her new YA Thriller - Sweet and Sour 🍜 All welcome to come and join in the chat over on Twitter/X 🙂 #YA #SweetandSour #Mukbang #Thriller #writerslife

Our next 'Picture This, Write Now' online session takes place on Monday 2nd February - 19.30-21.00 (Dublin time). It's a great way to get stuck in to that project on a winter's night. www.scbwi.org/events/febru...

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 24: No one ever told you it was going to be easy.

The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2026 Competition deadline: 31st March 2026 The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is for unpublished poems written by adults for children aged 7–11. Entrants are welcome from anywhere in the world. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2026 Rules Prize is run by The Moth Magazine Closing…

‘It’s about making reading as natural as breathing’: Malorie Blackman backs the National Year of Reading

📢 Last chance to enter... Our brilliant #WriterInResidence Matt Goodfellow is running a poetry competition for children - and his favourite entries will win a signed bundle of his books! Enter by 30 January - more details here👇 https://bit.ly/3Khwki9

📢 Calling all aspiring authors – this is your chance to get your work in front of an agent! 📢 Get your chance to pitch your writing in person at International Literature Festival Dublin 2026! Date with an Agent is now open for submissions. ilfdublin.com/whats-on/fes... @writing.ie

IT'S WEDNESDAY! It's #buyastrangerabook day! The grooviest day of all. I'll give out TWO books. FOR FREE. If you'd like one, let me know. Also, if you'd like to #BuyAStrangerABook too, let me know. It's a thing! Look. www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi... UK only.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 117: There are days the dream machine doesn’t work. That doesn’t mean it’s broken.

If anyone would like to host a Q&A on their blog about my new middlegrade book THE DAD TRAP, do let me know! @slatterymr.bsky.social @jonnybid.bsky.social @letterboxlibrary.bsky.social @sla.org.uk #KidLit #BookSky #PrimaryEduSky

Your first look the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2026 longlist 🤩 The quality of titles this year were truly extraordinary. Our judges have managed to narrow it down from a total of 151 submissions to these 17 Congratulations to all nominees 🏆 childrensbooksireland.ie/news-events/...

Little Red doesn’t want to share Tree with anybody! But Tree welcomes everybody from bugs to birds to animals 🌳 storysnug.com/2025/04/our-... #SquirrelAppreciationDay #OurTree @littletigeruk.bsky.social #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #BookSky #Kindness #Friendship #community #BooksThatHelp #jessicameserve

The #SmallPitch submission window is now OPEN for 48 hours! Reminders: - Underrep writers only - Finished manuscripts only - One pitch per manuscript - Up to 3 manuscripts per writer - No hashtags in your pitch - Comps & emojis are ok Once submitted, check your pitch here: database.smallpitch.org

Every penguin in the #Antarctic looks the same. But when we get to know them we discover that each one is very different 🐧 storysnug.com/2024/01/a-pe... @northsouthbooks.bsky.social @nordsued.bsky.social #APenguinLikeMe #PenguinAwarenessDay #MarcusPfister #BookSky #StorySnug #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #PB

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Winter Lane’ Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Here are almost 40 of my favourite #MiddleGrade reads for 2025. A fantastic range from wild fantasy, to gritty realism, historical adventures and more than a few scares. What a brilliant year its been for children’s books

100 books to read before you are five. An ideal selection of picture books for children aged 3-5 in nursery and EYFS. #ukedchat schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-list...

Snap up a book this weekend for a chance to win a £250 gift card. Supporting bookshops, not billionaires. uk.bookshop.org/lists/win-a-...

THIS SATURDAY! Any young artists and / or donut aficionados can join me online for a Phoenix Digital Workshop where we will MAKE EXPLOSIVE DONUT SQUAD COMICS TOGETHER! 🍩💥 thephoenixcomic.co.uk/event/?event...

If you're a children's author, it may be tempting to write a picture book about what's happening in current events right now. It's generally not a good idea. We don't know how things will end and a book you write now, won't publish for 2-3 years minimum. 1/