We’re thrilled to have a friend of The Reading Realm, children’s poet Dom Conlon, rocket and zoom into #TheRealm today to talk about his brand-new anthology of moon poems called This Rock That Rock, which is illustrated by Viviane Schwarz! Without giving too much away, I’ve heard that you have a new poetry anthology for…
Book Reviews
She Wolf: An interview with Dan Smith
Author Dan Smith joins Tom Brassington today in #TheRealm to talk about She-Wolf, a thrilling historical adventure full of Vikings, vengeance and wolves! Why did you choose to take the reader back in time so far in She Wolf? So many reasons, but mainly because I wanted to be cruel to my characters! I wanted…
Not My Fault: An interview with Cath Howe
A huge welcome and hello to Cath Howe, author of Ella on the Outside, who joins us in #TheRealm today for a chat about her new book Not My Fault… Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about your new book, Not My Fault? Not My Fault is about two sisters,…
We Won an Island: An interview with Charlotte Lo
When Luna’s family win an island, Luna thinks it will solve everything AND she can finally get a donkey! But things don’t go entirely to plan – no one expects Luna’s younger brother to win a Sheep Pageant, for example – and the secret festival they hold soon spirals out of control. But the island…
The Shop on Peculiar Hill: An interview with Grimly Darkwood
We are thrilled to have Grimly Darkwood in The Reading Realm today talking about his entertaining, quirky fantasy adventure The Shop on Peculiar Hill! Without giving too much away, can you tell us about your book The Shop on Peculiar Hill? The book is about a boy called Peter who comes to live with his…
Clouds Cannot Cover Us: An interview with Jay Hulme
Jay Hulme is an award winning transgender performance poet, speaker and educator. In the first part of this interview, he talks about his wonderful, striking new collection of poems, which is aimed at teenagers and young adults, called Clouds Cannot Cover Us… I wondered if you could start by telling us a bit about your…
Storm Hound: An interview with Claire Fayers
A friendly welcome and hello to Claire Fayers, who journeys into The Reading Realm today to talk to Sarah Farrell about her new book Storm Hound! Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about Storm Hound? Storm is the youngest of Odin’s fearsome hunting hounds, running through the skies on stormy…
Little Bird Flies: An interview with Karen McCombie
Karen McCombie has written a gazillion books (nearly!) including The Pearl in the Attic, the St. Grizzle’s School for Girls series and The Lost Diary of Sami Star. She joins us today for a chat with the lovely Tom Brassington about Little Bird Flies, published by Nosy Crow… The majority of Little Bird Flies…
The Black Lotus: An interview with Kieran Fanning
Kieran Fanning, author of The Black Lotus, dives into The Reading Realm today to talk to Alfie Bache about the Samurai Empire and his top tips for writing tense, exciting scenes! Without giving too much away, can you tell us about The Black Lotus? In 16th century Japan, Lord Goda forges three powerful swords that…
The Darkness and Sadness at the Heart of the Tale: An interview with Metaphrog
Metaphrog are Franco-Scottish duo Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, winners of The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2016 Best Visual Artist. Today they journey into The Reading Realm to talk about comics, their top tips for using graphic novels in the class and the dark side of fairy tales… I wonder if we could start…
Alex in Wonderland: An interview with Simon James Green
Author Simon James Green joins us today in The Reading Realm for a chat about his hilarious, romantic, up-lifting new book Alex in Wonderland… Without giving too much away, can you tell us about your new book Alex in Wonderland? What age group would you say it’s aimed at? 16 year-old Alex has just finished…
The True Colours of Coral Glen: An interview with Juliette Forrest
Juliette Forrest joins us in The Reading Realm today to talk to Kevin Cobane about her new book The True Colours of Coral Glen! When and how did you start writing? I’ve worked in advertising my whole career but I didn’t start writing my own stories until I attended a Saturday morning class at Glasgow…