This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu

I genuinely can’t quite believe this! 😮🏆 Thank you to @write-mentor.bsky.social for this brilliant opportunity, and to David Higham Associates for judging. I really am in the best company on both the Long and Shortlist, and I salute my fellow writers! 🤩🙌😍 #WritingCommunity #kidlit #believe ✨

This was such a great day! Lovely to work with Sara and spend time with a roomful of talented and generous writers 🥰🤩

Pure joy 💗

Schools, it’s here! Today’s Programme for Schools is streaming free online, offering a world of different experiences. Join us! www.hayfestival.org/schools

So surprised and pleased to make this shortlist 🥰 It means a lot 🥹 Thanks to all @write-mentor.bsky.social

The Gilded Age thing I was not fully expecting about our century’s was Spiritualism coming back???

Just spotted the swifts returning here in Warwickshire this morning! Too high and tiny in the sky to photograph. But they are BACK!! 💙💙

So excited to collect @annalieseavery.bsky.social’s new book The Wycherleys from Waterstones this morning!! How gorgeous?!💜💜

me: writing is my place of peace me writing:

Really enjoyed this unsettling little gem by @orlaowenwriting.bsky.social It’s one of those books that lingers in the back of your mind, long after you lay it down. Not surprised to hear it has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2025.

being an indie bookseller in the helltimes has felt both very stable and very stabilizing, and part of me wishes everyone could be on my side of the counter for a little while, because I think it would help some of you be a little less cynical and doomy right now. so here is my VERY anecdotal data:

An interesting and important read.

Freddie Mercury didn't go into the studio and nail the vocals for "The Show Must Go On" in one take while dying of AIDS for you to despair and give up now. Take the time you need, but then get up and get back out there. The show must go on.

After playing a fictional member of the Resistance a long time ago, I never could have imagined it ever happening in real life, but here we are.

OBSERVER; Starmer set to join Europe crisis summit on Trump Ukraine plan #TomorrowsPapersToday

Never felt so seen 🤣

Exciting news! 🥳 ‘Fyn Carter and the Agents of Eromlos’ has been shortlisted in the Selfies Book Awards 2025 Children’s category! I am so happy, stunned, and excited! (1/2) @bookbrunch.bsky.social #selfiesbookawards #kidlit #middlegradebooks #fyncarter

Cuts to audio drama at rhe BBC are a real concern. Please read and consider signing. chng.it/cZQT4cxyxt

The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Oh…so they do understand theft of IP?

In 1647 the city of York unsuccessfully petitioned parliament for a university, warning of the harm of a north south divide and the “ignorance of illiterate men, through whom that sad proverbe is fulfilled upon us: the blinde leade the blinde and both fall into the ditch.”

Many years ago when I was an editor I went to my boss and asked why we were allowing ourselves to become so reliant on Amazon...I suggested that publishers could mutually invest in a central bookselling website where orders were sent direct to relevant hubs and the amount we'd save because...

Thrilled to announce next week the publication of a centenary edition of The Great Gatsby, with the fine folks at @cambridgeup.bsky.social. I wrote the introduction, and the maestro James LW West III edited the authoritative text. I think it is a thing of beauty. www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

Well, this is a surprise! I was over the moon just to be on the shortlist, but this is nuts. Makes up for waking up at 5am with a migraine! I’m off to try and digest this over a large Americano. Meanwhile, check out the other category winners! Honoured and chuffed to be amongst them! x

I'm so delighted to share the amazing cover for I AM RAVEN, coming 10th April! With brilliant illustration from #KaritasGunnirsdottir and design by #RayTierney, I can't wait to see it out in the world! 🐦‍⬛ @nosycrow.bsky.social #KidLitUK #IAmRaven #FlightOrFight alastairc.com/blog/2025012...

Just read King of Nothing and Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore and I cannot tell you how much I loved both books. Fresh and authentic, genuinely hilarious, charming and thoughtful. Excellent for young teens. Such a gap for this age group and these books are perfect 💜

The Sleeping Beauty- my latest cartoon for @theguardian.com

“The fear is that as they disappear – mainstream universities are also cutting their creative arts courses – a drama school training will become once again the preserve of the wealthiest who can afford to pay to go to private institutions.” www.theguardian.com/education/20... (1/2)>

me when any program's AI assistant asks me if I want help writing:

**Free mentoring opportunity for children's authors** Looking for 4 writers who consider themselves from a working class background & in a financially disadvantaged situation. Mentoring is online, primarily in a group setting with some 1:1. More info: www.storygodmother.co.uk/index.php/op...

The techbroligarchy wants us all to be dumber.

Very good advice. Every story has the right size container, you just need to find it. I wrote My Name is Leon as a short story first. It didn’t work until it became a novel.

👀

From tomorrow, for six Saturdays, I’m presenting Music Matters on Radio 3. We’re calling it ‘Satire & The Stave’. There’s some fabulous and very interesting music that I hope you’ll get a kick out of. Will be on BBC Sounds and all that, natch. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

What are we DOING here? We're just meant to sit and act like this insane plagiarism and climate threat that requires more money than anything has ever cost is worth it? Are we meant to pretend that ChatGPT is worth this aimless, meaningless destruction of capital and our environment? For what?

Waterstones Children's Laureate @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social is a total force for good - here's a reminder of what his time in the role is all about! And he has big plans for 2025, kicking off by bringing together key figures for a #ReadingRights summit in January! Stay tuned...

I suppose what I'm trying to say is don't listen to your brain when they say a creative task is impossible. Your brain is lying. #KidLitUK

Happy 99th Birthday to Dick Van Dyke 🎂

The wolves are running! Feeling so festive and wintery watching the real snow scenes in the 40th anniversary showing of John Masefield's 'The Box of Delights' on BBC4 - what a treat! #TheBoxofDelights #UKKidlt www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Thought for the day: ‘Be the voice of encouragement and kindness, especially to children who need our unconditional love and support’ ❤️❤️

The meanings of the word for a wren, from eight different languages... 8. Little walnut (Bulgarian) 7. Little bird in the ditch (Japanese) 6. Thumbling (Finnish) 5. Fence-skedaddler (Danish) 4. Fence-master (Hebrew) 3. Druid bird (Irish) 2. Mouse-brother (Faroese) 1. Little king of winter (Dutch)

Why read books? Because reading opens minds & hearts. It helps us imagine different lives and different worlds; it can help us build a better world. So please keep reading books with kids, and encouraging them to read. There is nothing more important. #literacy #books #reading

I've got some UK children's book publishers, reviewers and literary agents here, Darren: go.bsky.app/kRfNFe

Holy space balls….

You know that thing where you finish a book, and you have to sit and stare at the wall for a while, because it was just so good. Yeah. That.

Every single school should have a library & a librarian, to help every single child find the books that will make them readers, and give them all the lifelong benefits of literacy. Libraries & librarians change children's lives FOREVER! #literacy #libraries #librarians

This is so true. The #kidlituk community is incredibly supportive and I've made lifelong friends through it. (There are always outliers, of course, but on the whole, we are very happy to big up each others' books! Also, it's easier to promote other ppl's books than your own 🫣)

Honestly, why have I waited so long to read this?! #NowReading

Introduce yourself with your worst feedback from school. Hi, the standard of my written work is spectacularly erratic.