In the Reading Corner

Nikki Gamble talks to CLiPPA shortlisted poet JonArno Lawson about his co-authored poetry collection (with John Agard) Wise Up! Wise Down!Jon talks about why writing poetry excites him and his thoughts about performing poetry.About Wise Up! Wise Down!How can laughter be more powerful than a sword? Why do days have names but not weeks? And do pigeons ever get a craving for cake? Two friends, internationally acclaimed poets John Agard and JonArno Lawson, take us on an inspiring, hilarious and wonderous journey through poetry, asking questions and attempting answers as they discover that life really is a forever and ever adventure. Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

In the second of our podcasts with CLiPPA shortlisted poets, Nikki Gamble talks to Brian Bilston about his collection of pet poems, Let Sleeping Cats Lie. Brian talks about why he writes, his thoughts about performing and reflects on whether he intentionally writes for children.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Nikki Gamble talks to Jan Newbery about her CLiPPa shortlisted collection, Big Red Dragon, and writing verse for very young children and their adults.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jenny Downham and Louis Hill are the mother and son writing partners of the YA novel Let the Light In. In this interview, they talk with Nikki Gamble about the discoveries made when writing together. They reflect on the complexities of their book's characters, themes and social context.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Anders Sparring and Per Gustavsson are the creative duo behind The Pinchers. Originally published in Swedish, the books have been translated into English by Julia Marshall and are published by Gecko Press.About The PinchersThe Pinchers is a funny chapter-book crime series about a well-behaved child who doesn’t fit into his family of criminals. It features a prison break, a diamond heist, and a lie that saves the day.Theo is good at most things. He can almost count to a thousand, knows several French words, and can operate the washing machine. But he can’t lie or steal.“You must try harder,” says his mother sternly.The Pincher Family love to steal things. It’s what they are born for! Theo's heart sinks when his parents leave to visit the diamond exhibition. After breaking Grandma out of prison (his little sister needs someone to read her bedtime story), Theo sees no alternative but to stop his parents from stealing the diamond. His shout of “Stop! Police!” brings them only delight—Theo’s lie has shown he is a true Pincher.A mix of adventure, silliness, and everyday family life, and with bright and funny illustrations, this is a perfect chapter book for beginning and reluctant readers.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jeremy Strong's final novel, Fox Goes North, is a beautifully written fable about a brave, loyal and quirky group of friends who travel together in a topsy-turvy caravan on a quest to see the Northern Lights. For the old, wise fox, this will be her final journey and resting place. Full of wisdom and humour, the themes of friendship, love and loss are handled with compassion and understanding.Jeremy was able to complete what he hoped would be his 'best book' but sadly died before it was published. In this conversation with Nikki Gamble, he discusses the book's themes, his writing life and his awareness that in this story, he was not only writing Fox's journey but also his own.Jeremy's legacy is that over 8 million of his books have made it into the hands of young readers and will have opened countless doors into the world of reading.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

In this episode, Elle McNicoll talks to Nikki Gamble about her novel, Keedie, the prequel to her novel, A Kind of Spark, now a BBC television series.About KeedieSet in Juniper five years before A Kind of Spark comes a powerful coming-of-age story from award-winning author Elle McNicoll.As Keedie and her twin Nina approach their fourteenth birthday, they seem to only be growing further apart. Keedie instead feels drawn to, and fiercely protective of, their quiet younger sister Addie – who on the surface is the opposite of loud and fiery Keedie, but in fact they have more in common than anyone knows.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

In this episode, Nikki Gamble talks to award-winning poet, novelist, playwright, and literary critic Clare Pollard about her debut children's novel, The Untameables.About the UntameablesUnder the bloody rule of King Arthur – as the cruel Knights of the Round Table wage wars and hunt magical creatures – the ordinary people of Camelot are getting sick. Really sick. Something is poisoning the land. No one in Arthur's court seems to care, but a spark of hope remains... The Holy Grail could save them all, and two children embark on a quest to find it.Shy, gentle Roan, a young dog keeper who works for the knights, is desperate to find a cure for his mum. He befriends Elva, a generous and outspoken kitchenhand with her own reasons for seeking the elusive Grail. Together, can they beat the knights to find it? And will drinking from it save Roan’s mum? Clare says, 'Writing The Untameables was the most fun I’ve ever had with a laptop. I’ve always loved Arthurian myth – from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to the legend of Holy Grail; Morgan le Fay to Questing Beasts – and wanted to subvert and reclaim these tales for contemporary children (including my own), starting from the premise that maybe the knights of the round table were the bad guys. From a cameo by the Lady of Shalott to medieval riddles to solve, this is a love letter to our literary history, whilst – through the perspectives of Roan and Elva, children who work below-stairs at Camelot – it is also an attempt to look at it afresh. I’m so pleased to be with Emma Press for my first children’s novel and to be part of their thoughtful, beautiful list.Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jodie Lancet-Grant is the author of The Pirate Mums and The Marvellous Doctors for Magical Creatures. and The Legend of the Wild West Twins, The Pirate Mums made history as the first book with a two-mum family to be read as a Cbeebies Bedtime Story, when it appeared in 2021, read by Sue Perkins. In her day job, she is Associate Publisher at Bluebird, Pan Macmillan, where she commissions high-profile non-fiction books. Jodie is the chair of judges for the Polari Prize for Children’s Books, which celebrates LGBTQ+ books and creatives. She lives in East London with her wife and their twin daughters.  Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

After training as an actor and working as an English teacher, Lucy published her first novel, The Secret of Nightingale Wood, which won the 2014 Montegrappa First Fiction Prize; further novels, Our Castle by the Sea, The Ghost of Gosswater, and Sisters of the Lost Marsh have been published with critical acclaim. Hilary Mckay called the latter the 'book of the year.'The Island at the Edge of Night is Lucy's fifth novel.About The Island at the Edge of NightAbandoned at a boarding school on a bleak and remote Scottish island, Faye discovers that she and the other pupils have been sent there for doing something wicked. But what has Faye done?She might be bold enough to explore the prison-like island, but does she have the courage to face a secret deep within herself?Support the showThank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.comIn the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk