Rachel Mann

The Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) urgent appealing to children’s authors, writers and publishers to donate stories to its new bedtime stories app.

The charity relies on stories in the public domain but are running out of books.

Anyone willing to donate should contact media@rsbc.org.

Screenshot of the submission page of Arts Council England's new under £30k portal. It shows the ACE logo and the words "Thank you for making an application to National Lottery Project Grants" can be seen

Thoughts and tips on the seemingly unnamed ACE under £30k application portal...

My hand holding a hardback picture book against wallpaper showing lush trees. The title is I'm going to make a friend and it's shown in a thought bubble full of stars and purple. A young boy with brown skin is carrying a big cardboard box of art equipment and random bits and pieces like spanners. The background of the cover is white and the author and illustrator names are in yellow flashes: Darren Chetty and Sandhya Prabhat.

Check out this sweet new young picture book from @darrenchetty.bsky.social and Sandhya Prabat. Having spent a lot of time with a three year old lately the accidental violence of young friendships really spoke to me!

@darrenchetty.bsky.social and I are at the Brixton Library on Tuesday evening talking about our new book, Beyond the Secret Garden. Join us!

At least 200 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its war on the enclave this week, says UNICEF's Gaza spokesperson Rosalia Paulin.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/u6c13s

I’m afraid I’m already closed, but best of luck!

I’m afraid not - so sorry!

Generally both, but I’m afraid I’m now closed to submissions due to upcoming maternity leave - so sorry to disappoint, and best of luck!

Hi there - not as a rule, but I’m afraid my submissions are now closed for 2025 in advance of my maternity leave. Best of luck to you!

The amazing @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social interviewed @ksandsoconnor.bsky.social and me for the latest issue- we talked about writing Beyond the Secret Garden.

booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/movi...

📣 We are accepting applications until 2 FEBRUARY for City Lit's 2025-26 Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices. Winners will be selected by acclaimed writer @malorieblackman.bsky.social

Learn more: www.citylit.ac.uk/malorie-blac...

#CityLit #Writing #MalorieBlackman

💔

This Black Friday you can support independent bookshops online through Bookshop.org with free shipping on orders all weekend.

Want to discover some great indies to follow on Bluesky? We've put together a starter pack of bookshops across the UK that you can follow now:
go.bsky.app/6UrVWsn

Until early January, Kate.

Early January!

Not for submission, but it will need to be ready if we call it in, yes!

Absolutely!

Looking for picture books or young adult stories about Palestine? Check out this selection published by @arablit.bsky.social!

I should think soon after Christmas.

I’m afraid not - we have brilliant colleagues in the New York office who sell US rights as primary agents.

This list is not exhaustive, but hopefully helpful & indicative.

CAA does now have a writer facing website, so we welcome your submissions here: www.caa.com/entertainmen...

And, as I said on The Other Place, thank you for indulging my whims - it’s a privilege to be a professional treasure-hunter

The formally interesting too - Benjamin Zephaniah, Ursula LeGuin or David Almond-esque.
I published MG & YA for 10 years and it will always have my heart - the market’s tough but the readers are still there!

I don’t tend to rep picture books or fiction younger than 7+

I feel very strongly that we need to focus on literary quality as well as accessibility in our books for children. Anything YA or MG that does any of the above, ideally with hook & humour, I’d love to see.

…returning to nature & to ourselves.

I will always be drawn to international stories and settings - what is unfamiliar (& uncomfortable!) to a Western reader.

I don’t tend to rep high fantasy, but love magic & a speculative hook.

Every kind of love, please.

Themes: always, always work that in some way acknowledges the ecological crisis in which we now & will always exist.

Radical reimaginings of how we might live, in terms of collective care, eradicating borders, tearing down capitalist, colonialist & imperialist structures…

Commercial-literary fiction in general: Bunny,Tender is the Flesh & Paul Takes the Form of Mortal Girl are all good examples.

I’m also looking for something big - perhaps a family drama, perhaps multi-generational - still with voice. I love Iris Murdoch, Toni Morrison & Barbara Kingsolver.

Literary / commercial-literary horror - see above…

Graphic novels across the market, but see 🧵 for general themes that I’m interested in.

Literary / commercial-literary romance. Especially if bi / pan / queer. I’m looking for both something sweeping & epic, & something more contemporary.

Writers of this better place: I’m closing submissions soon but before I do, I’d love some final books to sell! Here’s my #mswl:

High-concept YA - if it includes & addresses untold histories / historically marginalized characters, all the better

YA horror - ALL OF IT

Had a handful of homophobic/transphobic messages here today because I’ve created a Starter Pack supporting LGBTQIA+ writers.

Please follow and share this pack to help keep Bluesky the positive place it promises to be.

go.bsky.app/UD2Hf7W