Diverse characters: Corinne Duyvis on the decline of “issue” books

Incidental diversity – where a character’s difference is mentioned but not highlighted – is on the rise. But disability and difference informs a huge chunk of people’s lives, whether good or bad, and it’s not shameful to acknowledge that. Corinne Duyvis, author of YA sci-fi/fantasy Otherbound, wonders, are diverse characters only OK as long as they’re not too diverse?

John Dougherty’s top 10 fictional badgers

Badgers in stories are usually wise and kindly animals – which may have little to do with real life but does anybody really care? Here John Dougherty picks the best badgers in children’s books

Marcus Sedgwick: where I write

Come with Marcus Sedgwick as he takes us on a dizzying photographic blog tour of where and how he wrote his new book The Ghosts of Heaven. It all starts in his shed…

New Books Party: books received this week

Although I recently returned from visiting London, books still arrived in the mail during my absence for me to share with you. Here’s some of the treasure-trove ...