Interviews with the winners of the Diverse Book Awards YA categories - Simon James Green, winner of the YA Readers' Choice Award for Boy Like Me; Sophie Cameron, runner up for the YA Category for Away with Words; and Jenny Ireland, winner of the YA Category with The First Move.

A full list of the books shortlisted for the YA Diverse Book Awards can be found here.

Simon James Green
Boy Like Me
The Big Ask
Llama Glamarama
A Year of Pride and Joy: 52 LGBTQ+ Voices Share Their Life Passions

Dance on My Grave: Summer of 1985, Aidan Chamber

Sophie Cameron
Away with Words
Our Sister Again
Last Bus to Everland
Out of the Blue

Jenny Ireland
The First Move
The Boy Next Door
Matched Up

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In this episode we talk with J P Rose about her new book, Birdie. And Ali interviews Anthony McGowan with Jason Rosam (originally broadcast on Riverside Radio) about his book Dogs of the Deadlands.

Birdie by J P Rose is a set in 1950s Yorkshire and is a story of hope and courage following Birdie Bagshaw and the racism she experiences moving to a mining village but also the bond she forms with a pit pony Mr Duke.

J P Rose's YA book is The Haunting of Tyrese Walker. She has also written lots of adult thrillers as Jacqui Rose including The Women and Loyalty.

Her website is https://jprosewriter.com/#home

And she can be found on social media here:

Twitter/X @jprosewriter
Instagram @jprosewriter

Anthony McGowan's Dogs of the Deadlands is set in Chernobyl in 1986. In the middle of the night Natasha has to leave her home and her puppy behind. Will the dogs survive without humans...

Anthony McGowan's other books include: Lark, Pike, Brock and Rook.

He can be found on social media here:

Twitter/X @anthony_mcgowan
Instagram @tonymcgowan

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An interview with Amy Lewis, Head of Coram Beanstalk and Sara Browne, one of their volunteers. Plus chat about 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Café by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

Coram Beanstalk

Link to the Media Trust Film

Website: https://www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk/

Find out about volunteering: https://www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk/Pages/Category/about-volunteering

Media Trust Charity Films

Link to information about films

Book Clubs in School’s Film

Books mentioned:

You Choose, by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

Press Here, by Hervé Tullet

The Book with No Pictures, by B.J. Novak

Book Discussion

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Café by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

Tsunami Girl, by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

The Diverse Book Awards

2024 Shortlists

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In this episode we talk to Jacob Sager Weinstein about his picture book, What Rosa Brought (illustrated by Eliza Wheeler). We also chat about some picture books (old and new) that have caught our attention recently.

Jacob Sager Weinstein

What Rosa Brought, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

The City of Secret Rivers

The City of Guardian Stones

Other books mentioned

The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

When Hittler Stole Pink Rabbit, Judith Kerr

Tadpole’s Promise, Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Tony Ross

Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion, Chris Barton, illustrated by Victo Ngai

Contacts:

Jacob Sager Weinstein

Website: https://www.jacobsagerweinstein.com/ and

Bluesky: @jacobsw.bsky.social

Eliza Wheeler

Website: https://wheelerstudio.com/2024/07/08/behind-the-rosa-art-vienna-research/

(worth checking out for interesting background on how she developed the drawings for What Rosa Brought.)

Instagram: @wheelerstudio

Picture Books mentioned in book chat

Harry the Dirty Dog, Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham

The Song of the Nightingale, Tanya Landman, illustrated by Laura Carlin

The Bowerbird, Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Catherine Rayner

Gigantic, Rob Biddulph

The Girl and the Mermaid, Hollie Hughes, illustrated by Sarah Massini

The Big Dreaming, Michael Rosen, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus

Sam Francisco, King of the Disco, Sarah Tagholm, illustrated by Binny Talib

The Fastest Tortoise in Town, Howard Calvert, illustrated by Karen Obuhanych

Hippos go Berserk, Sandra Boynton

Mrs McTats and her Houseful of Cats, Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrated by Joan Rankin

A Million Chameleons, James Young

Sleepy Bears, Mem Fox, illustrated by Kerry Arden

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Interviews with YA authors Diana Anyakwo and Denise Brown

In this episode we talk to Diana Anyakwo about her book My Life as a Chameleon which has just been longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards. We also talk to Denise Brown about her second book, It All Started with a Lie.

Diana Anyakwo

My Life as a Chameleon

Contact for school visits: https://contactanauthor.co.uk/author/3518/diana-anyakwo

Instagram @dianaanyakwo

Books Mentioned

Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence, Mishal Husain

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Malory Towers, Enid Blyton

Denise Brown

It All Started with a Lie

I am Winter

Website: https://www.denisebrownauthor.co.uk/

Instagram @denisebrownuk

Books Mentioned

What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge

Books mentioned in book chat

The Summer Dare, Joanna Dodd

Murder on a School Night, Kate Weston

How to Die Famous, Benjamin Dean

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,Gabrielle Zevin

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe, Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

Songlight, Moira Buffini

The Girl who Couldn’t Lie, Radhika Sanghani

King of Nothing, Nathanael Lessore

Boy Overboard, Morris Gleitzman

The Secret of Golden Island, Natasha Farrant

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In this episode we talk to Tom Palmer about his latest book Angel of Grasmere and his other Lake District books. Plus we talk to Deborah Maclaren, the Managing Director of Love Reading about how they are building a social purpose into their book selling.

Tom Palmer’s Lake District books

Armistice Runner

After the War

Angel of Grasmere

Other books mentioned

Arctic Star

D-Day Dog

Resist

Information on all Tom Palmer’s books can be found on his website

Tom can be found on Twitter @tompalmerauthor

LoveReading4Kids - information about how their donations work can be found here and on how to set up wish lists here

Books mentioned by Deborah:

Stig of the Dump by Clive King

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow

Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher

Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem

Give Away

Check out our social media for a chance to win a stack of books from Love Reading (UK postage only). To enter the competition: On Twitter/X, entrants will need to follow @lovereadingkids and @Mostly_BookTalk and retweet and/or comment on the competition tweet. On Instagram, entrants will need to follow @lovereadingkids and @mostlybooktalk and comment and/or like the post announcing the competition.

Full T&Cs here

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Film Clubs and books with Into Film Ambassador Charlotte Harrison plus an interview with author Ross Montgomery about his new book, I am Rebel

Charlotte Harrison can be found on social media: @sometimesmovies

Find out more about Into Film here.

Books mentioned:

Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Ross Montgomery can be found on social media: @mossmontmomery

His website is here

Books mentioned:

I am Rebel

The Chime Seekers

And Ross’s other books can be found here

Find us on social media:

X/Twitter: @Mostly_BookTalk

Instagram: @mostlybooktalk

Get in touch:

info@mostlybooktalk.com

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A look at the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024 shortlist including the benefits of shadowing with Alison Jewitt from The London Nautical School

Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024 Shortlist books

Away with Words by Sophie Cameron

Choose Love by Nicola Davies, Illustrated by Peter Horacek

Saffiyah’s War by Hiba Noor Kahn

Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore

The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner

Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell

Give Away

We are doing a give away of a full set of the shortlisted books (UK postage only). To enter, find us on X/Twitter or Instagram. On X/Twitter, entrants will need to follow Mostly Book Talk and retweet and/or comment on the competition tweet. On Instagram, entrants will need to like the post announcing the competition, comment on the post and follow Mostly Book Talk. We would love to have your comments about which book you think will win this year.

X/Twitter: @Mostly_BookTalk

Instagram: @mostlybooktalk

Full Terms and Conditions can be found here.

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