Audio Podcasts

In June 2009 Catherine Rayner won the Kate Greenaway Medal for Children's Book Illustration for Harris Finds His Feet and we at Scottish Book Trust couldn't be more thrilled for her.

The Older Readers 12-16 years category in this year's Royal Mail Awards features three great titles, Crash by J.A.Henderson, Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray and The Reckoning by James Jauncey. Listen to our interviews to hear the three authors talking about how they came up with their stories and which books and authors inspired them when they were younger.

The books nominated for the Younger Readers 8-11 years category in this year's Royal Mail Awards are First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts by Lari Don, Dino Egg by Charlie James and The Eleventh Orphan by Joan Lingard. We had the opportunity to speak to the three authors about how they came up with their stories, how it feels to have made the Royal Mail Awards shortlist and what their favourite books were when they were younger.

The three books nominated in the Early Years 0-7 category for this year's Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books are Stick Man, Manfred the Baddie and Pink! We spoke to the authors of the books - Julia Donaldson, John Fardell and Lynn Rickards respectively - to find out more about where they got the ideas for their stories and what their favourite books were when they were children.

Steve Cole - pictured, in mid-flow - was our special guest on the recent Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour of Orkney and Shetland, and he certainly put all his energy into creating the best experience possible for all the children who saw him. Chris interviewed Steve at the end of the tour, and asked him about the masses of books he has written, including the Astrosaurs and Cows in Action series', as well as his involvement in a certain little-known BBC science fiction series...