A generation is arriving at school unable to speak. The UK faces a “Language Recession” — and until we restore talk, play and storytime, the reading crisis will deepen.

The Booker Prize Foundation has launched a £50,000 Children’s Booker Prize for ages 8–12 — with child judges at the table and 30,000 free books for those who need them most. Here’s why it matters, how it fits the National Year of Reading, and what schools, parents and publishers should do next.

From the unforgettable scream of "No wire hangers!" to the surreal spectacle of "Piggate," these books dropped bombs on the images of some of the most powerful public figures. This is a look at the moments when books didn’t just make headlines — they remade history.

Boarding school stories endure not because they were ever realistic, but because they offered a fantasy of order—where chaos was dormitory-sized, friendships epic, and growing up happened between cold showers and jam tarts.

Excerpt:When Spitting Image turned Britain’s favourite bear into a foul-mouthed drug addict, StudioCanal’s lawyers reached for the marmalade jar. This isn’t just about taste — it’s a legal showdown between parody and property, politeness and profit. Meta description:StudioCanal’s lawsuit against Spitting Image over a cocaine-addled Paddington Bear puppet tests the limits of parody, copyright, and brand protection in UK law.

Horror books occupies a unique place on a children's bookshelf, a genre in which fear isn’t just for scares, but an invitation to emotional discovery, bravery, and empathy. I was spooked by stories in the dark: under the blankets with a torch, the delicious tension of not knowing what might happen next.

Illustrator/Author Jo Surman blends graphic flair, gothic imagination, and heartfelt storytelling. From picture books to middle-grade novels, she creates worlds steeped in colour, character, and curiosity.

Non-Disclosure Agreements in UK publishing protect trade secrets, manuscripts, and confidential deals — but they can also silence victims, bury scandals, and distort public narratives. Here’s how NDAs shape, protect, and sometimes poison the industry.

The rise of AI-generated 'slop' books on Amazon hasn’t broken publishing—it’s simply exposed the fault lines that have been there all along. If we’re serious about defending authorship, we need more than polite concern. We need credits, clarity, and structural accountability - across the board.

Unlike many careers in publishing, the path to becoming a literary agent is rarely linear, and seldom advertised. It’s a role more often grown into than applied for, shaped by instinct, connections, and a passion for reading and for books. Entry routes vary widely: some agents started as agency assistants, others moved across from editorial, bookselling, or publicity. But all develop a finely honed sense of what sells, and a deep familiarity with the publishing marketplace.

Look into the world of school stories, from Billy Bunter's misadventures to the classic tropes that still govern the genre. Whether it's overcoming a monster or going on a quest, these narratives hold more than just nostalgia—they hold the keys to understanding class, morality, and personal growth in fiction.

For Readers of Short Stories - and Writers Chasing the Magic of Compression (Beyond Neoprene) In the Beginning Was Six Words I’ve stood...

From Queen Victoria’s imagined love children to Princess Margaret’s speculative diagnoses, modern biographies are increasingly blurring the line between storytelling and speculation. But why are journalists letting them?

When Amazon withdrew a string of unofficial biographies of SNP politicians riddled with false claims, it exposed more than one publishing scandal. In an era of AI-generated misinformation, author anonymity, and disappearing credits, how do readers know who to trust? This article explores the new Wild West of publishing — and what parents, teachers and librarians can do about it.

Ladybird Books taught generations of British children how to read, but the story behind the logo is richer, and more surprising, than you might think. From wartime printing hack to educational empire to bestselling adult spoof, here’s the full Pulp History.

Notorious Autobiographical Fantasies. When truth becomes a plot device… Who is who? Autobiographical Fantasies Memoir is supposed to...

It’s almost poetic: a trauma memoir that ends up traumatising the publisher. Because when a story like The Salt Path begins to wobble, it’s not just the author who falls. The editors, the marketers, the readers—all are caught in the collapse of a narrative sold as unflinching truth. This is the soft lie of emotional truth—and publishing has been complicit in making it a genre.

Whether you dream of writing a picture book, an adventure novel for eight year olds, non-fiction or a chapter book series.

Publishing loves a good diversity panel. But behind the scenes, creators are quietly being erased. If we don’t protect credits, are we building legacy— or theatre?

When I began work on The Secret Journal of Victor Frankenstein on the Workings of the Human Body, I wasn’t just adapting Mary Shelley’s classic, I was exhuming it. Shelley, who died in 1851, had no idea her cautionary tale about ambition and monstrosity would spark not just horror films, Halloween masks and bolts-in-the-neck clichés, but an entire mythology. I imagined Victor Frankenstein not as a mad scientist, but as a curious, obsessive student doctor scribbling anatomical