New interview: Nathanael Lessore’s new novel for teens, LIKE A BROTHER, is ‘horribly based on unfortunately true events,’ the author writes in the acknowledgements. It’s not an understatement. @hotkeybooks.bsky.social #KidLit #booksky

Bravo! Poetry By Heart stars @hayfestival.bsky.social 👏👏👏

Why, when reading for fun is one of THE most important indicators of a child’s future success are we wasting their time and the teachers’ valuable experience and influence with things like fronted adverbials? I could be wrong… but I just don’t get it. What are your thoughts? Do you agree?

📚 Book banning isn’t just happening elsewhere—it’s happening in UK schools. Students deserve access to diverse stories, ideas, and perspectives. ✉️ One simple action: write to your MP 👉 cilipslg.com/2026/05/04/%... #RightToRead #SchoolLibraries #StopCensorship #UKLibraries @cilip.bsky.social

Thrilled to have a poem featured by the fantastic @poetrybyheart.bsky.social! It's a poem aimed at little kids and is a very popular performance piece. Enjoy: poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/perfor... #BookSky #KidLitUK

Since ‘putting a bend in the road of kids’ literature’ in 2016, the MR GUM series has sold more than four million copies in the UK and been translated into 34 languages. Delighted to have a NEW interview with creator Andy Stanton! #booksky #kidlituk @farshorebooks.bsky.social bit.ly/4vFfY5z

Today's review...'I am a Royal Rulebreaker' by Fern Riddell illustrated by Taylor Dolan @dkbooks.bsky.social A very entertaining read with excellent illustrations! #KidLitUK www.throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/i-am-a-royal-rulebreaker

For anyone wanting to get in to film/TV, I’ve put together a series of lunchtime talks from Wednesday to Sunday next week on directing, design, composing, producing & locations with fantastic guests. Free for under 25s. Do share! Part of From Page to Screen festival. @bridportarts.bsky.social

Pitch vs Assessment vs Bootcamps Pitch = 5 minutes where you try sell your story. Assessment = The editor reads your manuscript in advance and then discusses it with you in a 15 minutes one-on-one session. Writing Bootcamps = A whole day with an editor! www.cyaconference.com/bootcamp

Join Nathanael Lessore, Theo Parish & Tia Fisher, hosted by Jake Hope. Shadowing, AI & creativity, copyright with ALCS + a new ALCS competition. 3 March | 12PM | Online Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/HmaQxnFFQGa9ya5YR8t8DA#/registration

Don’t forget the Never Too Late Award from the Bridport Prize which recognises entries from writers over 60 across all categories of prizes. Link below Please share :)

Dear teachers, it is the #NationalYearofReading2026. I've had requests to make a video to encourage reading for classrooms. Here it is. Please share and feel free to use it however you choose: youtu.be/xrAeYD1ZQ1A

Out now! BfK276, our first of 2026: Authorgraph interview with Neill Cameron, Alea Marley's Windows into Illustration, new Beyond the Secret Garden, predictions for the coming year & Barry Cunningham reflects on 50 years in children's books🤯#booksky #KidLit booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/bfk-27...

❗URGENT: Babies & toddlers in Wales will lose access to #Bookstart and other BookTrust Cymru programmes as the Welsh Government has stopped direct funding. This will affect the poorest families first and hardest. 👉 https://bit.ly/49D6q0P 🎧 Listen on BBC Radio Wales (1hr25) https://bbc.in/49JYpr6

We’re delighted to announce this year’s longlist for the @rsliterature.bsky.social V.S Pritchett Short Story Prize! Congratulations to everyone listed, the winner will be announced at the #ALCSAwards. Read here: www.alcs.co.uk/news/longlist-for-for-v-s-pritchett-short-story-prize-2026-announced/

E-books are reading. Comics are reading. Genre is reading. Fanfic is reading. Text-based games are reading. Audiobooks are reading. Braille books are reading. Non-fiction is reading. Picture books are reading. There is no single way to read, nor is any reading style more worthy than another.

A new law has just passed that (and I know it's hard to believe) dictates that you have to share the post i've attached. Now look. I was as surprised as you are that they chose this one, but what can I do? I've reposted it myself, just to be on the safe side.

Last chance to get a signed copy of Stepfather Christmas before the Advent countdown starts on Monday! www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4...

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 430: Read. Read widely. Read what you love, and what you don't. Read what you know, and what you don't yet know. The wider your reading, the better your chance of avoiding the limitations of being influenced by only one author, one genre, one culture, one time.

Was there a story you read as a young person that transformed your thinking, ignited your imagination and stayed with you long after you turned eighteen? Learn how to write your own YA masterpiece with award-winning writer Liz Hyder. Book now: buff.ly/FYiu4Qh

This really is a shame. In times like these we really should be commissioning more engaging, informative evidence-based shows, not fewer.

Halloween is nearly upon us, and we are standing up for ghosts, a better recognition of the contribution and role of ghostwriters in celebrity-authored children’s fiction. We have published new Guidelines to ensure the role of the ghostwriter is more visible and recognised.

✨📚 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐒 & 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒!!!! 📚✨ We’re launching a FREE digital half-termly newsletter that schools can easily share with parents and guardians to support reading for pleasure at home. ➡️ For more info & to sign up to the newsletter go to: mailchi.mp/authorfy/morethanbooks (it’s free!) 🎉

We are thrilled that Frank Cottrell-Boyce will be joining us for a special episode of Authors Live on 26 November! The Children's Laureate will be telling us all about his new book, The Blockbusters! Register to take part now www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning-and...

Happy #NationalPoetryDay! Whether you were inspired by Alex Wharton in yesterday's #BookTrustRepresents workshop, love our #WriterInResidence Matt Goodfellow's books, or just want to enjoy some verse, check out our poetry booklists 👇 https://bit.ly/42kuLG0

In the run-up to #BlackHistoryMonth in October, we're offering schools the chance to win one of three bundles of @catwrote.bsky.social's acclaimed dyslexia-friendly narrative non-fiction*. (1/2)

🔔 The third author panel in our “Magic Stories are for Everyone” series is officially available to stream on YouTube starting today! ✨ bit.ly/MagicStories3

Voting is open for this year's Lollies. Grown ups can vote on behalf of children, or because they love kids books. I'm so happy to have The Goat and the Stoat and the Boat shortlisted! shop.scholastic.co.uk/lollies #kidlituk #picturebooks #primaryteachers #reception #nursery

There’s no doubt going to be conversations in your classroom around flags popping up in areas so if you’re not familiar with Boy, Everywhere check it out as it’s an essential book for Y5+. Tbf, adults need be reading this modern classic too! 📖 @amdassu.bsky.social #kidlituk

GLASGOW PALS! I'm going to be doing a FREE interactive author talk @ this year's Byre Road Book Festival which takes place 25-28th Sept. I will be talking about my new novel Nate Yu's Blast From the Past and I will even bring about the 1917 shell casing I have! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/maisie-cha...

Publication day for “About Time”! It seems to have got the horology world very excited (see review below). I hope some of you might take a look to learn about something so absolutely central to our existence - you literally can’t imagine it not existing, because without time, there’d be no thought

You will never want to play hide and seek again after reading this! Impossible to put down once you've started

Just for perspective, a few weeks ago roughly 100,000 turned up for the London Trans+ Pride march. By contrast fewer than 3,000 ACROSS THE WHOLE COUNTRY, have turned up to anti-asylum "protests". Yet we are meant to take the latter as "the voice of the people" and the former as "the minority".

If you want to keep children safe, how about funding decent children's content that they'll actually want to watch and legislating to stop the youtube algorithm feeding up horrors three clicks after peppa pig?

Not long to go until #Skandar and the Spirit War launches! We have LIMITED copies of the signed indie edition available for pre-order via our bio... be quick! On publication day, Thursday 28th Aug, we will be opening EARLY at 9am for you to get your hands on your copy as early as you can!

In the first of a series of posts, we'll find out more about some of our wonderful authors who offer virtual visits. This week meet the brilliant Fiona Barker. virtualauthors.co.uk/2025/08/04/1... #virtualauthorvisit #picturebooks #nursery #keystage1 #keystage2 @fionawritesbooks.bsky.social

Join us tomorrow for some kidlit chat on Ashley’s new book Spirit Warriors! @ashleythorpe.bsky.social

Hoping to relaunch my review site later this year with a ✨new look✨ & lots of reviews, old n new, but without Twitter so looking for other #bookbloggers on here who enjoy #fantasy #scifi #historicalfiction #historicalfantasy #disabilityrep #lgbt+rep — please like/repost/follow to help a gal out 🙏🏻

Children’s reading is to become a “shared national mission” says Jonathan Douglas, CEO of @literacy-trust.bsky.social at the launch of a new National Year of Reading starting in January 2026. #readingforpleasure booksforkeeps.co.uk/new-national...

🔥Bunny Vs Monkey fans! I’m doing my biggest show EVER to celebrate the release of BVM book 11! 🚀 I’ll be on stage at Union Chapel, London, on Sat 11th October, drawing LIVE with suggestions from the audience. Tickets here, some include this one-off A2 gig poster! www.waterstones.com/events/bunny...

Reading Matters – Children’s Book News Welcome to this roundup of what has been happening in the world of children's books over the last month. Lots of awards news this time! It's always fascinating to compare the different short and longlists and it can be a good way of catching up on some gems…

This is a one-night event but is viewable on a livestream (or for two weeks after the performance) and is a fundraiser for a UK trans charity.

Its #NationalShareAStoryMonth, an annual event to celebrate the fabulous world of #ChildrensFiction & inspire a love of reading 📚 The theme for 2025 is Saving the World One Book at a Time. The plans are designed to celebrate the joy of sharing stories See:adoddle.org/events-calen...#NationalShareAStoryMonth#ChildrensFiction#NSSM2025

Today's review...'Finders of Silverthorn Forest: The Lost Treasures' by Rachel Chivers Khoo, illustrated by Laura Catalan @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social If you want something special to share for National Share a Story Month 2025, then look no further! #NSSM2025 throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/find...

Today's review...'I’m Going to Make a Friend' by Darren Chetty, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat @littletigeruk.bsky.social Perfect for sharing during #NSSM2025 throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/how-...

National #ShareAStory Month 2025: Saving the World, One Book at a Time 🌍 Let's come together to share stories that can change the world! Visit fcbg.org.uk/nssm/ 📖 #NSSM2025 @gsascitt.bsky.social @spencerapprent.bsky.social @derbyresearchsch.bsky.social @em-mathshub.bsky.social

Today's review...'Nate Yu's Blast from the Past' @maisiechanwrites.bsky.social Out on the 12th June, this is brilliant! throughthebookshelf.com/reviews/nate...