Our former Virtual Writer in Residence, Keith Gray, has edited a collection of stories by some of our finest Young Adult authors all on the topic of losing your virginity.

One of the contributors to Losing It is Bali Rai. His story The White Towel looks as 'losing it' in a British Asian context. He stops by the blog to tell us why he feels it is so important that this story is part of the collection.

Last week saw the publication of The Loon on the Moon, written by Chae Strathie and illustrated by Emily Golden. Chae stops by the blog to tell us about his inspiration for the book.

Let's begin with a quick quiz. No prizes -  it's just for fun!  

Stuck for summer reading over the holidays? Well fear no more as this week we bring you a brilliant blog from Julie the Children’s Buyer at  Blackwell Edinburgh. Julie has a list of some of the biggest hits around so give it a read and then make a trip to your local bookstore or library. Don't forget to let us know what you're reading over the summer!

There is less than a month until the Edinburgh International Book Festival gets under way. This week Hilary Copeland, the festival's Programme Assistant, drops by the blog to fill us in on the hectic weeks ahead and the authors she is looking forward to seeing. Have you booked your tickets yet?

Linda Strachan' s Dead Boy Talking was released last month (June).

Kate from the children’s team joined an army of school children from Fife to meet the wonderful and talented Andy Stanton last month. Kate drops by the blog this week to tell you all about the event and all the laughter that was had during the hour.

During June we took the incredible Kjartan Poskitt out on The Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour around Stirling and Perth & Kinross. Claire Stewart joined Chris from the children's team on tour with Kjartan.

This weekend saw the launch of Maggi Gibson's Crazy Days which is the third book in the Seriously Sassy series. To celebrate the new book a Seriously Sassy Summer Festival, with lots of fun activities took place in Glasgow over the weekend. This week Maggi takes over the blog to tell you all about her new book and the Seriously Sassy Summer festival.

In June we took Kjartan Poskitt out on The Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour around Stirling and Perth & Kinross. Maths is often seen as dull, boring and useless but not by Kjartan – he dazzled and showed pupils how exciting, useful and entertaining maths can be.

Teresa Flavin' s The Blackhope Enigma is released this week on July the 1st. To celebrate the launch of the new title we invited Teresa along to the blog spot to talk about writing her new book and her life as an author.