News and Events

We do list some events here, but for a full events listing involving children's authors and books throughout the UK, we highly recommend Book Events for Children.





We celebrated our third birthday by hosting the very first online literary festival organised entirely by children's writers. We had thoroughly interesting posts, fabulously amusing videos and downright marvelous giveaways.

A full archive of the festival is available for you to enjoy, or click the links below:


Anne Cassidy Post: To Blog or Not To Blog?
Jo Cotterill
Anne Rooney & Mary Hoffman Video: Italian Inspiration
Celia Rees Post: Scattered Authors, the Beginning
Elen Caldecott Competition: Win ‘Operation Eiffel Tower'
Sally Nicholls Post: History
Gillian Philip Competition: Win ‘Bloodstone’ and ‘Firebrand’
Liz Kessler Competition: Win ‘A Year Without Autumn’
Sam Mills Video: Interview with Tyger Drew-Honey
Adele Geras
Jane Eagland Post: The Ups and Downs of Research
Enid Richemont
Malcolm Rose Post: Reader Gregor Kelly questions Malcolm Rose over Forbidden Island
Lucy Coats Video and Competition: Going to the Dogs–Tackling a Tricky Audience
Susan Price & Katherine Roberts Post: Kindles and Kids Books
Wendy Meddour Post: On Not Being a Famous Actress
Miriam Halahmy & Savita Kalhan Video drama and discussion about Edgy Fiction
Catherine Johnson Post: Rastamouse, the Moomins and Me
Penny Dolan
Linda Newbery & Julia Jarman
Emma Barnes: Bad Children
Dianne Hofmeyr & Miriam Moss On Picture Books
Kath Langrish Post: Magical Rooms in Children’s Fiction
Nicola Morgan Competition: Win ‘Write to be Published’ and a crabbit bag.
Julie Sykes Post and Competition: My Favourite Bears
Leila Rasheed Competition: Win a critique
Joan Lennon Post: The Flamingo and the Writer
Hilary McKay Competition: Win ‘Caddy’s World’
Fiona Dunbar & Keren David Video: In Conversation
Josh Lacey Competition: Win ‘Island of Thieves’
Marie-Louise Jensen & David Calcutt in conversation
Candy Gourlay Video: Creating a Legend
Karen Ball Competition: An Inspiring Giveaway
Linda Strachan & Cathy MacPhail Video: In Conversation
Malachy Doyle Post: The Happy Book
Michelle Lovric Competition: Win ‘The Undrowned Child’
Sue Purkiss Post: What the Dickens?
John Dougherty Competition and Composition
Lynne Garner Post: What's the Point of Twitter?
Nicky Browne Video: Finding history and herstory