Demands to censor, most often for gender themes or sexual detail, rose 38% year on year in 2022, with Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe being last year’s ‘most challenged’ title
After the death last year of children’s author Shirley Hughes, her son took hundreds of her books, including the award-winning Dogger, to libraries in Ukraine
The children’s author was famed for her intricate illustrations and the site in Epping Forest that inspired her – thought lost to storm damage – has been located still standing
The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail – about a family’s trip across Malaysia during the impending end of the world – wins the older readers category, the overall prize and £5,000
Walt Disney made Bambi a cutesy schmaltzfest for kids. But the original story was a brutal allegory by a Jewish writer who later fled the Nazis. As the character hits 100, we look at the iconic fawn’s extraordinary life