What are the best books for getting people into reading? How do we inspire children to read? Why is 2026 the National Year of Reading?
In this bonus episode of the Ask Penguin podcast, host Rhianna Dhillon sits down with children’s author and illustrator, Nadia Shireen, and Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust to discuss the National Year of Reading’s Go All In campaign. Plus, we answer your questions about the reluctant readers in your life and give out more book recommendations to spark a lifelong love of reading.
About the guests:
Nadia Shireen is a writer and illustrator. She enjoyed making homemade magazines and comics as a child. She studied law at university and then worked in magazine journalism; it was during this time that she started to draw again. After a lifetime of doodling in the sidelines, Nadia decided to pay some attention to drawing and in 2007 was accepted onto an MA course in Children's Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Her debut book Good Little Wolf received a mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Opera Prima Award and won the UKLA Book Award. Nadia has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize.
Jonathan Douglas CBE is CEO of the National Literacy Trust, a trustee of the Philosophy Foundation and of World Book Day. He is passionate about promoting access to literature and addressing inequality through literacy. He has lobbied and campaigned extensively and led the formation of the Literacy All Party Parliamentary Group. He is a chartered librarian and was Head of Policy Development at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and previously worked at CILIP and in Westminster Libraries.
For more information about the National Year of Reading, click here: https://goallin.org.uk
0:00 – Podcast intro by host Rihanna Dillon.
01:23 – What is the National Literacy Trust?
02:08 – Why 2026 was designated as the National Year of Reading?
03:47 – Have there been other National Years of Reading?
04:59 – Nadia Shireen on why she became an ambassador for the campaign and her school visits.
05:46 – What does it mean to be an ambassador for the National Year of Reading?
06:48 – What it means to "Go All In" for the campaign and strategies for behavioural change in reading?
08:08 – Why it's important to break down reading format hierarchy?
09:32 – Why are local stories and community identity is important for encouraging reading?
11:03 – How can book lovers encourage reluctant readers in their lives?
11:59 – How many volunteers are involved in the National Year of Reading?
12:54 – The importance of reading fan fiction, video game communities, and visual literacy/comics.
14:14 – What do children gain from discovering stories?
16:03 – Why is humour important for children's books?
17:01 – Jonathan Douglas's experience as a children's librarian and early funny books (Anthony Horowitz).
18:27 – Illustrating, draw-alongs, and demystifying the creative process for kids.
19:42 – Campaign partnerships (social media influencers, "Summer of Sport and Reading", British Land).
20:53 – Books that sparked the guests' love of reading (Meg and Mog, P.G. Wodehouse, My Name is Peter, A Traveller in Time).
24:32 – Favourite places and habits for reading (bedtime, train journeys, e-readers, and reading in the bath).
25:51 – Listener Request 1: Book recommendations for a partner into PS5, F1, and actuaries (The Formula, Niki Lauda biography).
26:49 – Listener Request 2: Recommendations for a friend into guitar, food, flowers, and birds (Kitchen Confidential, Men of a Certain Age, reading cookbooks as novels, May We Feed the King?).
29:43 – Listener Request 3: Recommendations for a reluctant reader who loves the beach and outdoors (The Beach, The Wedding People, Joseph O'Connor trilogy).
31:26 – Listener Request 4: Recommendations for an 8-year-old girl who loves baking, drawing, and climbing trees (Grimwood, comics/graphic novels, Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes).
33:38 – Outro
Why do baby puffins prefer to be alone? Why don’t Cuckoo birds raise their own children? Has the decline of birds taken away the music of our landscapes? What book would you recommend about birds? How to feel more connected to nature?
In this episode of Ask Penguin, Rhianna is joined by creative duo, author Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris to discuss their latest collaboration, The Books of Birds, a beautifully illustrated book that takes a poetic look at some of natures most unique and fascinating birds. Plus they give you more book recommendations for books that explore the British landscapes and our favourite anthropomorphised animals as main characters.
Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://bit.ly/4wKzgqb
About the book
The Book of Birds is a compendium of forty-nine bird species, from Avocet to Yellowhammer, all of which are presently declining or endangered in Britain. Inspired by the classic bird-books with which the authors grew up, this is a field guide with a difference. It asks not ‘What is that bird?’, but ‘Who is that bird?’ It shows its readers how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them.
About the authors
Robert Macfarlane is a Sunday Times- and New York Times-bestselling authors, whose books include Is a River Alive?, Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, albums, choral works, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe.
Jackie Morris has written or illustrated over seventy books, including the beloved children’s classics Tell Me a Dragon and East of the Sun, West of the Moon and a volume of modern folklore for readers of all ages, Wild Folk, co-created with Tamsin Abbott, as well as introducing and illustrating Barbara Newhall Follett’s gem of wild literature, The House Without Windows. She is the internationally bestselling and award-winning co-creator of The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, two books which have captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers of all ages. In 2018 she won the Kate Greenaway Medal and the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year for The Lost Words.
For more information about the National Year of Reading, click here https://goallin.org.uk
00:00 - 01:54 | Episode Introduction
01:54 - 03:07 | Audiobook Extract: The Black-Throated Diver
03:07 - 04:36 | Welcome
04:36 - 05:52 | The Black-Throated Diver and the "Loon" in Heated Rivalry
05:52 - 08:35 | What is your favourite bird?
08:35 - 09:35 | How do Cuckoo's disguise their eggs?
09:35 - 11:15 | The Spirit of the Curlew
11:15 - 12:49 | What makes the Book of Birds different from a field guide?
12:49 - 14:13 | What childhood experiences influenced your art?
14:13 - 16:30 | How is The Book of Birds structured?
16:30 - 17:51 | Are there less birds in the UK now?
17:51 - 18:41 | Recognising Presence vs. Absence
18:41 - 20:41 | Birds, Grief, and Crossers of the Great Threshold
20:41 - 22:58 | Personal Loss and the Memory of Lapwings
22:58 - 24:34 | How did conservation bring back the Red Kite bird?
24:34 - 26:10 | The Flight of the Six-Week-Old Puffling
26:10 - 27:32 | The Extraordinary Organ-Shrinking Godwit
27:32 - 28:55 | Feminist Creches and Lads' Holidays
28:55 - 30:57 | The Challenge of Capturing Flight
30:57 - 33:04 | National Year of Reading: Impactful Books
33:04 - 34:02 | What are your tips for reading everyday?
34:02 - 35:36 | Audiobook Extract: The Capercaillie
35:36 - 36:58 | Guest Book Recommendations: J.A. Baker's The Peregrine
36:58 - 38:09 | What would your Dæmon be?
38:09 - 39:53 | Evoking the UK Landscape: The Living Mountain & Benjamin Myer's Cuddy
39:53 - 41:21 | Concluding Thoughts and Outro
Has modern forensics taken away the thrill in murder mystery books? How does a career in corporate finance prepare you to write crime novels? Is narrative voice more important than plot? And is there really such a thing as a reliable narrator?
In this episode of the Ask Penguin Podcast, Rihanna Dillon sits down with bestselling crime fiction author Abir Mukherjee to discuss his new novel, The Pinnacle, who's the best on-screen Hercule Poirot, and how to write crime novels. Plus, Abir joins Penguin Books colleagues to answer questions and give out brilliant book recommendations.
About The Pinnacle:
George Abercrombie, a washed-up American heart-throb, hates India, even from the rarified heights of his apartment on the 68th floor of the Pinnacle, Mumbai’s grandest luxury skyscraper. When George wakes from a drunken stupor to find his wife Sweety murdered in their bedroom, he knows he will be the prime suspect. Welcome to the Pinnacle. A place where murder meets luxury and the world’s most privileged depend on the most desperate.
About the author:
Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the award-winning Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in 1920s India and the British Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year 2025 Hunted. His books have been translated into sixteen languages and won various awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, and the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing.
For more information about the National Year of Reading, check out https://goallin.org.uk
Chapters:
0:00 Intros
0:43 The new podcast studio
01:12 Did you always want to write thrillers?
02:45 Which author inspired you to write?
05:08 What are the best crime novels?
07:44 Who is the best fictional detective?
08:00 Who is the best Poirot actor?
11:55 What is The Pinnacle about?
15:30 How to write a believable setting?
21:26 How to write multiple character POVs?
23:10 How do you plot out a novel?
31:00 What book tropes do you avoid?
34:00 How has technology changed the way we write crime?
38:09 When do you hear character voices?
43:24 How do you build a reading habit?
45:50 Ask Penguin questions
1:06:26 Outros
What are the best books get you out of a reading slump? How did Snakes on a Plane inspire a literary sensation? What did James Joyce and Pakistani rap teach one of our debut novelists? And does a writer need to be completely delusional to finish writing a novel?
In this episode of the Ask Penguin podcast, Rhianna Dhillon sits down with three breakout 2026 debut authors, Angela Tomaski, Sufiyaan Salam, and Madeline Cash, to discuss the messy, hilarious reality of writing a first novel. And as always, we give out the best book recommendations to help you find your next read.
Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://bit.ly/AskPenguinS4E4
About the books:
Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam is a blistering story of masculinity, violence and love set over the course of a single, surreal night, told in energetic and cinematic prose.
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski is a novel buoyed by love, buffeted by loss, and tangled together in an unputdownable story where the lines between eccentricity and madness, cruelty and love become hilariously heartbreakingly blurred.
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash is a novel of quick-witted observation and surprising tenderness, conspiracies, loss and humour, a family saga for the twenty-first century, all held together with crazy glue.
About the authors:
Sufiyaan Salam is a writer and former animator from Blackburn. He’s working on several TV & feature projects, and co-wrote the short film MAGID / ZAFAR, premiering in 2025. Wimmy Road Boyz, winner of the #Merky Books New Writers’ prize, is his first novel.
Angela Tomaski was born in Oxford and raised in Somerset with her four brothers and sisters. She has had a variety of different jobs, including as a waitress, cleaner, English teacher and activity coordinator in a care home. She has a daughter and two grandsons, and now lives in rural Dorset.
Madeline Cash is the founder of Forever Magazine and the author of the story collection Earth Angel. Her fiction has appeared in Granta, The Baffler, The Sewanee Review, The Drift, and Bomb, among other publications. Lost Lambs is her debut novel.
For more information about the National Year of Reading, visit https://goallin.org.uk
Ask Penguin is the podcast where your quirkiest, trickiest, and most urgent book questions get answered. Hosted by Rhianna Dhillon, we bring bestselling authors and Penguin insiders to explore some of your favourite books and discover new ones that you are yet to read.
Keep up to date and listen to more episodes here: https://podfollow.com/thepenguinpodcast
0:00 Intro
01:47 How did you become published authors?
08:17 Which author inspired you to write?
11:24 How did you find the voice of your story?
17:05 How do you plan your novel?
25:17 How do write about family dynamics?
26:26 How does music play a role in your book?
30:46 How to write complex characters
33:29 Why does Lost Lambs have gnats in it?
37:10 Writing complex family relationships
42:02 The difficulties of writing
46:14 What book inspired your love of reading?
47:11 How to read more
48:15 What's next for you?
50:32 What novel would you recommend in the same genre?
52:33 What's the most underrated book from a well known author?
55:18 How to get out of a reading slump?
55:48 Which author should you read every book of?
Why does Dawn French love Kae Tempest? Do editors always know best? What is the impact of grief on those we love most? And what really happened when Dawn French came face to face with a hippo while filming Harry Potter?
Content warning: this episode contains content on suicide and suicidal feelings.
In this episode of Ask Penguin, Rhianna Dhillon sits down with bestselling author and comedy legend Dawn French to discuss her new novel Enough. Later, we're joined in the studio by Penguin colleagues to answer more of your questions and give out plenty of brilliant book recommendations.
Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://bit.ly/AskPenguin_DawnFrench
About the book
Enough follows Etta, 68, happy, healthy and satisfied with the life she has lived. One morning she gathers her family together and drops a bombshell that they all have one day to come to terms with - this will be Etta’s final day alive.
About the author:
Dawn French has been making people laugh for 30 years. As a writer, comedian and actor, she has appeared in some of this country's most long-running and celebrated shows, including French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley, Jam and Jerusalem, and more recently, Can You Keep A Secret? Her first three novels, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Oh Dear Silvia, and According to YES are all Sunday Times bestsellers.
For more information about the National Year of Reading, click here: https://goallin.org.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0:00 Dawn French Intro
01:57 What is Dawn French's new book about?
05:37 What is Dawn French's Writing Process?
09:02 What does the title Enough mean?
11:39 What are the themes and characters in Enough?
16:51 Where is Enough by Dawn French set?
18:09 The Barcelona incident
21:19 The importance of the kitchen in the home?
28:48 What do people think about Enough by Dawn French?
33:18 Is Enough getting a film or stage adaptation?
34:16 Nostalgia and homesickness
36:06 Grandmother and granddaughter relationships
37:38 Dawn French on Kae Tempest
40:00 The book that sparked your love of reading?
41:40 Ask Penguin Questions
41:53 What is Dawn French reading now?
43:47 What book emotionally wrecked you?
48:07 What's a book that made you laugh out loud?
48:45 Dawn French and the hippo
54:04 What's a book you would pass down to the next generation?
59:49 Closing
What are the best books based on real events? What is one book that you would read over and over again? And if you could be friends with a book character, who would you pick?
On this episode of Ask Penguin, host Rhianna Dhillon is joined by Booker Prize-longlisted author Sophie Mackintosh and our Penguin books colleagues in the studio to answer more of your questions and hand out more book recommendations.
Find all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/the-best-novels-about-infidelity-ask-penguin-podcast
Sophie Mackintosh is the author of four novels, including The Water Cure and Cursed Bread. She has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Women's Prize, has won a Betty Trask Award, and has been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others.
Her new book Permanence follows Clara and Francis – a couple in love, but in secret. When they wake in a strange city, they can finally be together. But as they move between this world and their ordinary lives, cracks begin to show, and they are forced to ask - how long can their love survive?
For more information about the National Year of Reading, click here: https://goallin.org.uk
Ask Penguin is the podcast where your quirkiest, trickiest, and most urgent book questions get answered. Hosted by Rhianna Dhillon, we bring bestselling authors and Penguin insiders to explore some of your favourite books and discover new ones that you are yet to read.
Keep up to date and listen to more episodes here: https://podfollow.com/thepenguinpodcast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Penguin channel:
http://po.st/SubscribePenguinYouTube
0:00 Intro
0:40 What books are based on real events?
03:33 What books can you read over and over again?
07:04 Which book character would you be friends with?
10:26 What are the best short story collections?
12:46 What are the best books where you will hate the main character?
16:24 What are the best books about affairs?
19:36 Outro
Can cheating ever be romantic? What are the best books about infidelity? What’s the difference between flash fiction and short stories? Why are we drawn to literature’s most flawed characters?
Booker Prize-longlisted novelist Sophie Mackintosh joins host Rhianna Dhillon to chat about her new novel Permanence, answer more of your questions, and give out plenty of book recommendations for what to read next.
Find all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/the-best-novels-about-infidelity-ask-penguin-podcast
Sophie Mackintosh is the author of four novels, including The Water Cure and Cursed Bread. She has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Women's Prize, has won a Betty Trask Award, and has been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others. Her new book Permanence follows Clara and Francis – a couple in love, but in secret. When they wake in a strange city, they can finally be together. But as they move between this world and their ordinary lives, cracks begin to show, and they are forced to ask - how long can their love survive?
For more information about the National Year of Reading, click here: https://goallin.org.uk
Ask Penguin is the podcast where your quirkiest, trickiest, and most urgent book questions get answered. Hosted by Rhianna Dhillon, we bring bestselling authors and Penguin insiders to explore some of your favourite books and discover new ones that you are yet to read.
Keep up to date and listen to more episodes here: https://podfollow.com/thepenguinpodcast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Penguin channel:
http://po.st/SubscribePenguinYouTube
Discover the dazzling, sweeping new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author, Emily Henry, Great Big Beautiful Life.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Penguin channel:
http://po.st/SubscribePenguinYouTube
How did Marian Keyes inspire Bryony Gordon’s writing? How do you write about family without falling into stereotypes? Which books capture the messy reality of life? And what is your favourite habit to fit reading into your life?
The Ask Penguin team returns with a shelf-load of must-read book recommendations - and we're joined by bestselling author, journalist, and podcaster Bryony Gordon to discuss her debut novel, People Pleaser.
Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/must-read-book-to-make-me-laugh-bryony-gordon
The novel follows Olivia Greenwood, a self-confessed people pleaser who, after one chaotic night out, decides it’s time to start living life on her own terms. Bryony Gordon is a columnist, author, and host of the podcast The Life of Bryony. She is the author of several bestselling books, including Mad Girl and You Got This, both Sunday Times No.1 bestsellers and British Book Award nominees, and is a passionate advocate for mental health, founding Mental Health Mates, a global peer support network. People Pleaser is her first novel.
Keep up to date and listen to more episodes here: https://podfollow.com/thepenguinpodcast
For more information about the National Year of Reading click explore
https://goallin.org.uk
Ask Penguin is the podcast where your quirkiest, trickiest, and most urgent book questions get answered. Hosted by Rhianna Dhillon, we bring bestselling authors and Penguin insiders to explore some of your favourite books and discover new ones that you are yet to read.
Keep up to date and listen to more episodes here: https://podfollow.com/thepenguinpodcast
0:00 Intro
01:01 Bryony Gordon
38:33 Ask Penguin Questions
56:41 Outro
Login
