Creative writing charity for young people

Sophie’s National Year of Reading Challenge

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We all love book recommendations. The students taking part in Young Writers Programme will often discover new authors to read via the example texts their Writers-in-Residence use. As a team, we read widely and are always keen to discover new books. As 2026 is the National Year of Reading, we thought what better opportunity to challenge our CEO Sophie to read 12 books recommended by 12 different literature, literacy and cultural organisations? They could recommend anything from fiction to non-fiction, poetry to graphic fiction, classics to contemporary, for adults, young adults, or children. As long as the title is in print! Sophie will then read and respond to the book and suggest a recommendation of her own. Sophie found all the books from January to June at her local library.

We’ll share in three month bursts, and perhaps you too will find something new to read or rediscover a favourite.

April to June

Phoebe Demeger

Librarian, Centre for Literacy in Primary Education
People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence (Scholastic) 

This contemporary mystery is told through the alternating perspectives of three teenagers, Ayrton, Stanley and Sen – as Ayrton digs deeper into the identity of the woman who snatched him as a baby, the connections between the characters begin to unfold, as do the consequences of their investigations. An accessible and pacey novel, with a great deal of sensitivity and care for its endearing, flawed cast of characters.    

    Sophie’s response: This book kept me awake much too late as I had to read to the resolution and find out what happened! The use of an extreme incident – in this case the snatching of a baby – that then plays out across the lives of the characters reminded me of Ian McKewan’s novels but the book I’m recommending in return is Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes which portrays a similar over protective familial love that is felt as suffocation, along with a narrative that reveals that there is always more than one side to a story 

    James Urquhart

    Interim Director, Literature & Senior Manager, Libraries,
    Arts Council England
    Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession (Bluemoose)

    I recently finished and thoroughly enjoyed. An unusual counter to the hectic pressures on life.  

      Sophie’s response: Leonard and Hungry Paul reminded me of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad children’s picture books – two gentle friends going about their everyday lives with an unselfconscious deeply philosophical air. I also loved the beautifully observed humour of the simultaneously banal and complex human relationships. This book is the equivalent of a reading ‘duvet day’ – restorative, relaxing and deeply satisfying.

      In return, I would recommend The Professor’s House by Willa Catha which beautifully documents the emotional ebb and flow of family life with adult children. 

      Victoria Gray


      Give A Book and Hawthornden Foundation
      All for Nothing by Walter Kempowski (first published in German 2006, in English 2016)

      Follows a family in East Prussia in January 1945. Told largely through the eyes of the 12-year-old Peter, life appears under the microscope he clings to—where things eat and are eaten—as the sense of impending doom intensifies. It is a comedy of acutely observed manners at the edge of annihilation. Set in the house the family cannot imagine or bear to leave, random visitors arrive like pilgrims fleeing history that’s coming round the corner. The objects you choose to take –the things you hold on to as you cling to identity—become freighted with loss and implication. Moments of extraordinary clarity—a fugitive’s shadow  ‘like the hand of a clock’ pointing in the snow—point up the march of time through the poignancy of things.  A parrot says more than any human can bring themselves to do. It is pitiful and pitiless, unsparing and humane, and profoundly affecting.    

        Sophie’s response: All for Nothing is a beautiful book which balances pace and mood against a remorseless sense of impending chaos and inevitability. Kempowksi’s characters mirror the reader as passive observers of the unfolding situation. They seem equally aware of the absurdities and coincidences of events but tragically unable to escape, offering a very different and very moving perspective on the horrors of war. It’s also a great translation by the amazing Anthea Bell who brought Asterix and Obelix to the English-speaking world! 

        The book I would recommend in return is The Awakening by Kate Chopin – a book that evokes a similar atmosphere of quiet inescapable inevitability.

        January to March

        Henderson Mullin

        Chief Executive, Writing East Midlands
        The Grassling by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett 

        I’ve chosen The Grassling, a book about connections to land, and the hybridity of language, in what is both a geological memoir and an ode to a dying parent. Burnett has a Kenyan mother and a British father. She imagines herself as new grass to understand the myriad connections from which she is made and connected. It is a wonderful, surprising, deeply moving book which says much about the idea of Britishness, and belonging, in a country which seems to be preparing to eat itself.    
          
        “I have become used to feeling different – more expanded – made up of parts that I may not have recognized as my own. I have things settle in me from various places and people. Or perhaps they have always been there: I just hadn’t seen or heard from them before.” 

          Sophie’s response: This was totally different from what I would normally read. It’s a novel that blends poetry, memoir and nature writing with a really atmospheric intensity. It felt like an immersive word bath that took me back to my own childhood growing up on a small holding and feeling very connected with the minutiae of nature and the seasons.  

          The book forces you to let go and allow the words to carry you along as you catch glimpses of Burnett’s reflections on her relationship with her dying father, looking back at how the landscape has been a constant binding character in their lives.  

          My book suggestion in return is Alison Uttley’s The Country Child which I loved as a child for a similar sensory and detailed observation of rural life – albeit many decades ago.

          Sam Butters and Gina Cicerone

          Co-CEOs, Fair Education Alliance 
          Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 

          Gina and I both read this beautiful novel during lockdown in 2020! 
           
          It’s a beautiful story of inclusion/exclusion in society and a reminder that every child deserves the chance to thrive, no matter how isolated or overlooked their beginnings may be. It also shows that education isn’t confined to classrooms—learning can come from nature, resilience, and lived experience just as powerfully as from books.  

            Sophie’s response: This is another book that evokes a powerful atmosphere and sense of place. Kya’s survival in almost total isolation within the marshes of North Carolina first as a child, then as an adolescent and finally as a grown woman also foregrounds the natural environment as a central part of the novel rather than just as a backdrop. This book certainly knows how to tug the emotions – child neglect, friendship, romance, crime, it’s got it all and makes for a very engaging read. 

            My book suggestion in return is An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma which provides a powerful contrast between the environments of Chinonso’s poultry farm in Nigeria and the university he travels to Cyprus in search of an education, with a heart-breaking narrative of racism, doomed love and betrayal. 

            Lucy Macnab and Mónica Parle  

            Co-Executive Directors, Forward Arts Foundation
            Forward Book of Poetry 2025 by Various Poets

            We recommend the Forward Book of Poetry for Sophie’s year of reading. It’s like a mixtape of the year’s best poetry, published and performed. Chosen by 5 judges of the 2025 Forward Prizes from hundreds of books and videos submitted, it’s a great way to discover new voices, and sprinkle some poetry into your year. 

              Sophie’s response: I used to say I didn’t read poetry because I was always too impatient to give it the time it deserved. But then I discovered that poetry makes the perfect read when travelling. You can dip in and ponder, allow the words to sit, move on when you’re ready. I found this collection a very enjoyable commuting companion for February. Plus it features Ella Frears and Jasmine Cooray – both First Story writers – so what’s not to like! 

              In return I suggest Poems on the Underground – a brilliant initiative which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and which first showed me what a great travel companion poetry makes.