I chat with fabulous Canadian author Susin Nielsen about her new book, writing for TV and how it differs to writing for children, and why she returns again and again to middle grade fiction. We also discuss the difference in showing internal thoughts in novels and on TV and how powerful and influencing children’s books can be on our lives.

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Show notes

Susin’s website
Susin’s Twitter

Things mentioned in the episode:
Tremendous Things by Susin Nielsen
Family Law – tv series
Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen
David Sedaris
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
Elmer the Patchwork Elephant by David McKee
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Margaret Atwood

I chat with children’s author Rashmi Sirdeshpande about her favourite books, her discovery of narrative poetry, beautiful books, and what gives her inspiration for her own writing.
Rashmi writes non-fiction books for children to inspire them and also be fun.
We chat about Rashmi’s giant fact checking tables and how she found writing her first fiction book. Rashmi’s non-fiction often covers important and heavy issues and we discuss how difficult this can be to write as well as to keep hopeful for the children reading it.

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Show notes

Rashmi’s website
Rashmi’s Twitter

Things mentioned in the episode:
Lucy Cuthew
Manjeet Mann
Elizabeth Acevedo
Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Michelle Harrison
Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackman
Dom Conlon
This Rock That Rock by Dom Conlon & Viviane Schwarz
Rikin Parekh
This Book Has Alpacas and Bears by Emma Perry, illustrated by Rikin Parekh
Cash by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Never Show a T-Rex a Book by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Never Teach a Stegasaurus to do Sums by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Diane Ewen 
Stronger: Changing Everything I Knew About Women’s Strength by Poorna Bell