I’ve seen lots of posts promoting the National Year of Reading which is brilliant! Not so brilliant is that there are some using AI-generated imagery which is disheartening. Illustrations are really important when it comes to children wanting to pick up books. Let’s keep the industry thriving!

✨COVER REVEAL✨️ CIRCLING THE STARS is an enchanting tale of secret nighttime walks, a mysterious fox and finding friendship in the most unexpected of places. Touching on themes of loss, change, nurture and healing. 🖊️ Written by Laura Sheldon 🎨 Designed in-house @fireflypress.bsky.social

Sarah is posting a multi-part story over the coming days. The Wish Star and the Five Wishes, Part 1, is available now. Part 2 out later today. @sarahtoddtaylor.bsky.social sarahtoddtaylor.com/2025/12/17/t...

I read Big Words by Luke Palmer this weekend & wish we could get all angry young (& older) men to read it. It is published in March by @barringtonstoke.bsky.social, one of their snappy novellas that packs *everything* into few words, hopefully a great conversation starter in 2ndry schools #KidLitUK

The Mab - a modern take on the Mabinogion with a foreword by Michael Sheen, has been given a new lease of life after being rescued from destruction

ICYMI: More than 1,500 copies of The MAB, a children’s title edited by authors Matt Brown and Eloise Williams, have been rescued by Welsh indie publisher Firefly Press, following Boundless collapse 👇 #BookSky

Our Contracts and Advice team provide expert support for members at every stage of their author career. This year we have:

Need a gift for your globetrotter this Christmas? We’ve got you covered!📚🎄🎁 Shop the 2025 Ilse Schwepcke Prize winner and shortlist on @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social (link in our bio).

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

It’s our bookshop signing day with Mari Ellis Dunning and Carys Shannon. Come say hello at our stops along the way 👋🏻 Just popped into The Hours Brecon. Up next @book-ish.bsky.social in Abergavenny at 11am

Independent publisher Firefly Press is set to publish a new series celebrating classic Welsh stories for children and young adults 👇 #BookSky

TONIGHT!!

I'm very much looking forward to this event, next Friday.

So, who's going to win??? The Faithful or #TheTraitors? Comment your guess on this post before 9pm tonight, 6/11/25, and we'll pick a random winner from those correct to win #LieorDie and #LieorDieBloodMoon by #AJClack UK only. @bouncemarketing.bsky.social #CelebrityTraitors

Join Carys Shannon on her debut book tour with events and signings held throughout the month. "Suspenseful and suffused in the uncanny power of the ever-shifting tides of a Welsh estuary, Carys Shannon’s Truth Like Water is a first-rate mystery novel” – Joanne Owen, @lovereadinguk.bsky.social

Join author Gosia Buzzanca at @bookspacecardiff.bsky.social this Saturday! Gosia will be speaking about her debut memoir 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World' 📚 🕡 6:30pm 📅 Saturday 1st November 📍 Bookspace, Cardiff Buy your ticket here: www.bookspacecardiff.co.uk/products/the...

The Booker Prize Foundation has launched the Children’s Booker Prize, the charity’s first award for children’s fiction. 👇 #BookSky

We are delighted to reveal that @onewomanwalks is the winner of the inaugural #TheIlseSchwepckePrize for her book, ONE WOMAN WALKS EUROPE. A huge congratulations to Ursula, and to all shortlisted authors @theilseschwepckeprize #literaryprize #womentravellers #travelwriting #bookstagram

Stephanie Yeboah said: ‘...The author takes readers on a journey not just across landscapes but into the heart of perseverance and self-discovery, with warmth and honesty shining through every page.’ Read more about the 2025 shortlist through the link in our bio.

Arabella Friesen said: ‘Martin’s five and a half thousand mile walk across Europe is a feat by any measure: for sheer guts, determination, courage both physical and mental, dauntlessness and good humour. She is a marvel … The world seems wider after reading this book.’

A huge congratulations to Ursula, and to our shortlisted authors.

ONE WOMAN WALKS EUROPE is Ursula’s 5,500 mile trek across Europe – a raw and inspiring journey of wild camping, resilience, and self-discovery. Battling fear and isolation she finds strength in solitude, connection in nature, and a deeper understanding of home and belonging.

We are delighted to reveal that Ursula Martin is the winner of the inaugural #TheIlseSchwepckePrize for her book, ONE WOMAN WALKS EUROPE (@honnopress.bsky.social). This is what she said about winning the Prize ⬇️

Firefly Press has signed an English adaptation of Megan Angharad Hunter’s Wales Book of the Year-winning novel, Behind the Sky, with publication scheduled for September 2026 👇 #BookSky

⭐️Kindle Deal Alert⭐️ Joining #Grimstink in the #UKKindleDeals this month: #Wilde by Eloise Williams #TheDollTwin by Janine Beacham and #BlackfinSky @katelliswrites.bsky.social Perfect for Halloween. Deal runs until the end of the month. Don’t miss it! www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=firefly+...

I will cut adrift—I will sit on pavements and drink coffee—I will dream; I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim—this fine October. - Virginia Woolf #Womensart

"Black History is all our history. It’s an integral part of the wonderful, fascinating, outrageous, incredible history of this country." Thank you @catwrote.bsky.social for this fantastic blog on the importance of teaching Black History. #BlackHistoryMonth Full blog: bit.ly/3W4Vkvd

How Lego MRI scanner sets are reducing anxiety in children undergoing medical treatment www.cnbc.com/2025/10/13/l...

Ready for some perfect Sunday night telly? 😍 The first episode of Hamza's Hidden Wild Isles airs tonight on BBC One at 6.15pm! Booming bitterns at Minsmere, badgers in the bluebells, Nightingales in song... We can’t wait! Who'll be tuning in?

In Carmarthen next Saturday? Enjoy crime fiction? Then come along to Carmarthen Library at 2pm to enjoy a panel with Crime Cymru authors @alishawkinsauthor.bsky.social @gbwilliams.bsky.social and me. Tickets are free on the Carmarthenshire Libraries website.

Happy Bookshop Day! There are over 200 independent children's bookshops on my map so do pay your local one a visit. It's regularly updated but please let me know of any more I could add. padlet.com/Jon_Biddle/r...

More than 20 independent publishing houses – including Bluemoose Books, Tilted Axis Press and Influx Press – have written an open letter calling for the trade to “work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses” as they face an “existential crisis” 👇

Wars, tariffs , paper, production costs and the battle to get our books seen means there is a crisis in publishing. Indies do most of the heavy lifting in finding great new stories that the risk averse conglomerates shy away from. Support Indies! www.thebookseller.com/comment/open...

Just finished this incredible book. I knew a little bit about Josephine Baker but Dance of Resistance does an incredible job of packing in the life story of a woman we can only wonder at. Catherine Johnson does it again! @barringtonstoke.bsky.social @catwrote.bsky.social

Trust and Secrets open.substack.com/pub/walkingw...

Carys Shannon will be joining her editor Carly Holmes at Goldstone Books Carmarthen to discuss her atmospheric debut novel Truth Like Water. Wednesday October 15th at 7pm. Free entry!

An article on the pressures on publishing, rising costs, what can be done about it - and how readers can also help. open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/w... (This ran in the Society of Authors quarterly, The Author, earlier this year. They've kindly given me permission to reproduce it on my Substack.)

The Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) urgent appealing to children’s authors, writers and publishers to donate stories to its new bedtime stories app. The charity relies on stories in the public domain but are running out of books. Anyone willing to donate should contact [email protected].

While thousands of women – and some men – were executed for witchcraft across Scotland, England and mainland Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries, only five executions took place in Wales ✍️Mari Ellis Dunning, Aberystwyth University

‘I want all children in Wales to experience the pleasure of reading, the superpower of writing, to find their own voices as creative change-makers & advocates for a fairer, more sustainable future.’ Nicola Davies, new Children's Laureate Wales 👏 #KidlitUK booksforkeeps.co.uk/nicola-davie...

I had a wonderful time with everyone here: brilliant to meet so many interested and interesting readers. With thanks to Howard and Jeannie for organising the afternoon. #books #readers #cake

Publication day Thurs 11 Sept. Honno Press. Your new favourite cosy crime duo - Holly and Ivy.

Honno has acquired The Wildness by Anne Keer, a novel with nature, and especially an old oak tree, at its heart. Publication is scheduled for 28th May 2026 👇 #BookSky

Hello lovely schools. If you are thinking ahead to World Book Day, I would LOVE to come visit your school and talk about spies, codes, history and pigeons (no, honest). Topics, rates etc can all be found at sarahtoddtaylor.com/author-visits/

Timeline cleanse

The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher. #KidlitUK #UKKidlit worldssmallestlibrary.wordpress.com/2025/08/28/t...

How we're all changing under the gaze of AI, as we learn to see ourselves as the machine sees us iandunt.substack.com/p/machine-me...

✨️COVER REVEAL✨️⁠ ⁠ 📙#TheTreasureSeekers⁠ ✍️ Cathy Faulkner 🎨 Harry Goldhawk ⁠ PREORDER NOW! fireflypress.co.uk/books/treasu... (or from your local bookshop 📚️)⁠ ⁠

Firefly Press is set to publish Emma Rea’s "thrilling" middle-grade adventure set in the streets and canals of Venice 👇