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In May, I spoke to Ian Eagleton from The Reading Realm, a new iPad app for children that encourages a love of reading. We talked about reading, writing, collaborating on picture books, and covering challenging topics such as grief in children's books.…

In December, I spoke to Ploy Radford (@Ploy_Radford on Twitter / @ployford29 on Instagram) for her fascinating podcast "Millennials Now", where she interviews young(ish) folk like me to talk about living and working as millennials. We spoke about my career as a children's writer,…

BLACK DOG is the sixth and (in some respects, at least) final story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by the sepulchral Drybone Creathe. It’s his first-person account of heading to the island of Cu Sith to evict an impoverished, savage family…

THE BEAST is the fifth story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by the gruesome big-game hunter Bloodrick Gallant. It’s the account of a Christmas he spent at his grandfather’s vast mansion filled with stuffed animals. He finds another stuffed specimen inside…

MISS MAGPIE is the fourth story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by the vicious equestrian poisoner Miss Ariadne Biter. It’s the story of an incident from her own childhood, where an elderly neighbour of hers is tormented by a cruel new…

THE KENSINGTON SYSTEM is the third story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by  Sir Algernon thoroughbred-Pilt. It’s a story within a story: the first part is about a man whose car breaks down one night and is forced to spend the…

BAD UNCLE MORTIMER is the second story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by the foul and explosive Retch Wallmanner. It's is the story of an ancestor of his named Mortimer - a foolish, greedy young man who gambles away his money and…

AN OLD FORGOTTEN SCREAM is the first story in CHRISTMAS DINNER OF SOULS, told by Lady Arabella Dogspit. It's the story of the Baron, a cruel and greedy man whose desire for land leads him to marry and murder his new wife,…

I’ve loved horror stories since I was a child. I can still remember the ones I read when I was ten years old: everything from the POINT HORROR series to Roald Dahl’s TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED and THE OXFORD COLLECTION OF NASTY…

We often hear about the importance of reading, and how much it can benefit a child’s education. But it’s not just about reading because they have to, or because it’s part of their homework, but learning to love reading too. At Minerva’s…

It’s hard getting kids to read. We chatted with Ross, whose work has been listed in the Sunday Times ‘Top 100 Modern Children’s Classics’, shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book of the Year Award and the Branford Boase Award, and featured in The…

Ross Montgomery has already attracted much attention for Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door, shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Branford Boase Award, and The Tornado Chasers. His third book, Perijee and Me, is the story of Caitlin, a lonely girl who discovers a…