Podcasts about borough press

In this conversation, Keltie speaks with writer Monica Cardenas, who shares her journey of being childfree by choice, and her research about maternal ambivalence and apathy. Hear them discuss... The cultural and societal pressures surrounding motherhood. The representation of childfree women — and those who are ambivalent or apathetic about motherhood — in literature and media.  Monica's Substack 'Bad Mothers,' which challenges societal judgments about motherhood and emphasizes the importance of recognizing women's choices without stigma. Literary examples that challenge traditional narratives around a woman's role as mother, and that highlight the importance of normalizing diverse experiences. The personal implications of these societal norms, including the judgments faced by women who choose not to have children and the impact of family dynamics on these decisions.  The natural ambivalence many feel towards parenthood and the importance of a supportive community that respects individual choices. Perspectives on the freedom that comes with being childfree and advice for those uncertain about having kids. As mentioned in the show Find Monica online at www.monicacardenas.com Subscribe to Monica's Substack, Bad Mothers, at a special discounted rate, exclusive to Kids or Childfree Podcast listeners: https://monicacardenas.substack.com/kocf Find Monica on Instagram at instagram.com/monica_is_reading. About Monica Monica Cardenas holds an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research on motherhood in the 20th-century novel and the evolution of reproductive rights in the U.S. is central to her novel-in-progress The Mother Law, which was longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize and runner-up in the Borough Press open submission competition. Her work has been published in The Audacity, Literary Hub, Litro, Catatonic Daughters and Sad Girls Club Lit. She is chair of the Democrats Abroad UK Women's Caucus, and author of the Bad Mothers newsletter. Originally from Washington, D.C., she now resides in the Chiltern Hills just outside London. __ Join our upcoming Kids or Childfree Group Program: kidsorchildfree.com/kids-or-childfree-program Check out our free resources here, or at kidsorchildfree.com/free-resources And don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Kids or Childfree Podcast if you love what you're hearing! You can leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, or a rating on Spotify. Find us online at www.kidsorchildfree.com. Instagram: www.instagram.com/kidsorchildfree

Smart, accessible, thoughtful, entertaining and frank: our Book of the Week is Black Girl, No Magic by Kimberly McIntosh. Informed by years of social policy research and campaign work, as well as her own personal experiences, this debut essay collection investigates the intersection of race and class in the UK. She discusses dismantling the myth of social mobility for those who conform to expectations, how systematic injustice impacts us all, and many other urgent questions.  Don't worry if you're not an expert on any of the above; this is a great place to start no matter your background.   ‘Witty, fresh and full of life' Liv Little, founder of gal-dem  'This book is a glowing achievement by one of the best essayists of her generation' Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, writer and managing editor of Skin Deep magazine  A book for fans of Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino and Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, Black Girl, No Magic by Kimberly McIntosh is published by The Borough Press and available now. We recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or you can visit our shop on Bookshop.org. Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman Programmed by Matt Casbourne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grief is like an inside joke: you have to have been there to really get it.Everything Cassandra Rampersad knows about her family history has been overheard: whispered behind a closed door or written in a notebook stowed away. Cassandra has always been curious, and when a death in the family means she has to return home to Toronto, it seems like the perfect opportunity to finally discover what it is that no one else will talk about.But uncovering the past will never be easy when it has stayed hidden for so long. And with every new revelation, Cassandra realises that there is a reason that her family has never been good at grieving…A powerful meditation on memory and loss, Wild Fires is a beautifully crafted novel from a stunning new literary voice.Sophie Jai's debut novel WILD FIRES was the winner of the 2019 Borough Press x The Good Literary Agency Prize. The novel is shortlisted for 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and was longlisted for the 2019 Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award. Jai has been a Writer-in-Residence & Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford and an Artist-in-Residence at Sangam House in India. She is an alumna of the Humber School for Writers where she studied under Olive Senior. She is currently working on her second novel of short stories at the University of Oxford. 

Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts interview Tracey Rose Peyton about her beautiful and heart-breaking debut novel, Night Wherever We Go, published by The Borough Press. Night Wherever We Go is an intimate look at the domestic lives of enslaved women in 1800s America, and an evocative meditation on resistance and autonomy, on love and transcendence and the bonds of female friendship in the darkest of circumstances. It tells the tale of six women who are forced to become impregnated by their owners but decide to take matters into their own hands to prevent this from happening. Review by Sarah Waters - ‘a haunting evocation of the routine brutalities of slavery that is also a powerful celebration of friendship, community, resilience and rebellion. A hugely impressive debut.'  Tracey Rose Peyton also reads from her novel for us. This episode was produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety – is published by Salt Publishing. In 2020 he was shortlisted for the Woodward International Playwriting Prize and the Nick Darke Award.

We love platforming talented new voices on the podcast and this week we're thrilled to be joined by debut author Krystle Zara Appiah, as she reads from her new book, Rootless. When an unplanned pregnancy forces Efe and Sam to confront their differences, they'll discover if what they really want is still each other… A poignant, heart-breaking story about a British-Ghanaian marriage in crisis, Rootless explores themes of friendship, family expectations, societal obligation and motherhood. But above all, it's a story of love. Readers who loved Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson and One Day by David Nicholls will especially enjoy this gem. ‘A poignant debut which marks Krystle Zara Appiah out as one of Britain's best new young writers' - HARPER'S BAZAAR Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah is published by The Borough Press and available now. Show a debut author some love and grab your copy from your local independent bookshop or from our shop on bookshop.org. Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman Programmed by Matt Casbourne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love a whodunnit then we've got just the thing to satisfy that craving. A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon is a novel about Linda, an ordinary middle-aged housewife who keeps herself to herself. That is, until her husband Terry starts keeping strange hours just as a string of young women begin disappearing. There's something nasty lurking behind the net curtains on Cavendish Avenue…  A darkly funny, character-driven mystery from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, Joanna Cannon's new novel will have you gripped! A Tidy Ending is published by Borough Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, and available now. We recommend buying from your local indie or you can get it from our shop at Bookshop.org. Or if you fancy a signed first edition then Goldsboro Books can oblige! Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman Programmed by Matt Casbourne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday, 22 November 2021, 7 – 8:30pm ‘Work is a necessary evil', wrote the American author Mark Twain. But as we emerge from the pandemic, during which working life for many changed dramatically, do we need to reconsider our attitude to the culture of work? As we transition to remote and flexible working arrangements, is there a nostalgia for the collective rotas and routines of industrial capitalism? How do we value ideas of employment and labour within contemporary society, and how are conventional historical definitions, such as ‘the working class' or ‘white collar occupations', changing with the times? In this Behind the Headlines, our panel of experts will consider the function and representation of work from a variety of perspectives, to address the shifting landscape of modern employment and the prospects for our working culture in the future. Speakers: Caitríona Lally, Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub Caitríona Lally's first novel Eggshells, was published in the US by Melville House (2017) and in the UK by Borough Press (2018). Caitríona lives in Dublin and divides her time between her young children, her writing, and working in the housekeeping department at Trinity College Dublin. Wunderland is her second novel. When Caitríona was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish literature in 2018, she received international media attention for being both a writer and a cleaner, with some comparing her to “a real-life Good Will Hunting.” Ryan Shanks, Managing Director, Accenture, The Dock Ryan has been working for over 20 years at the coal face of industry around the globe, implementing new technologies, restructuring organisations, and developing talent with global organisations. His experience ranges from corporate innovation and organisation design, to culture change and leadership development. The Dock, Accenture's Flagship R&D Innovation Centre, hosts a diverse team of over 250 creative problem-solvers and allows design, technology and business to meet under one roof. Ilse White, Corporate Learning Researcher at Learnovate, TCD Ilse consults and collaborates with clients to improve practices in learning design and employee development. Over the past 15 years, she has gained extensive experience in learning design, learning strategy & program management and technology-enhanced learning across a wide range of topics like onboarding and management/leadership development. She holds a MSc in Business Communication from Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands) and a Graduate Diploma in Education & eLearning from Dublin City University (DCU). Dr Carole Holohan, Assistant Professor in Modern Irish History, TCD Carole is a social historian whose research examines the social history of the sixties, with publications on the history of youth and the history of poverty in modern Ireland. Her book Reframing Irish Youth in the Sixties (Liverpool University Press, 2018) also explores Irish attitudes to welfare and employment, economic growth, and emigration. Prior to her arrival at Trinity College, Carole held an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin and a teaching fellowship at St. Patrick's College Drumcondra. The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.

Set in a world where a virus stalks our male population, The End of Men is an electrifying and unforgettable debut from a remarkable new talent that asks: what would our world truly look like without men? We are joined by author Cristina Sweeney-Baird who wrote The End of Men prior to the Covid Virus! We would be interested to know if this made her consider her plans of release or to even publish this work at that time. She is published by The Borough Press through Harper Collins. Join us LIVE on YouTube or watch it back there or listen to it on the Podcast. FOLLOW US ► Our website - https://www.thewritingcommunitychatshow.com ► Universal link - https://linktr.ee/TheWCCS ► Use hashtag #TheWritingCommunityChatShow or #TheWCCS on social media to keep us current. This show will only succeed with your support! ► Support us through #Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/WCCS?fan_landing=true ► Become the sponsor of a show by the BEER TOKEN BOOK PROMOTION - https://www.thewritingcommunitychatshow.com/buy-us-a-beer Todays BEER TOKEN BOOK PROMOTION sponsor is ► CJ Aggett Deep: The climb of truth by C AGGETT. A young woman, a world of threats and zombies! 4.5/5 after 49 ratings! "This book had me gripped from the beginning to the very end." P/back, kindle & Audiobook. A young woman named Dee steps into a world of discovery and fear. Having been brought up isolated from civilization she is separated from her father and her so-called home. She sets out on a journey through a world of danger and mystery; risking everything to stay alive and reunite with her father Eli. Eli who leads a secret life, entwined in dark and dangerous military experiments that threaten human existence. "Just how dismal can it be to discover right in the middle of a town slowly being engulfed by flames and almost-invincible zombies, that every single bit of your life has been a lie?" --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/writingcommunitychatshow/support

Harriet Fletcher talks to the Kuwaiti-American author Layla AlAmmar about her second novel, Silence is a Sense (2021, The Borough Press), which follows the experiences of a young Syrian refugee living in Britain who has seen the failure of the Arab Spring in her homeland and is traumatized into silence.

Louise and Virginia discuss a number of British books and authors and a few other things they’ve been diving into.Email hello@divinginpodcast.comInstagram @diving_in_podcastVirginia’s Instagram @les__livres__Song ‘Diving In’ – original music and lyrics written and performed by Laura Adeline – https://linkt.ree/llauraadelinePodcast sound production and editing by Andy Maher.BooksA Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor, 1951. Published by Virago.A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, 2019. Published by Borough Press,An Academic Question by Barbara Pym, 1986. Published by Virago.Stanley and Elsie by Nicola Upson, 2019. Published by Duckworth.Tracey Chevalier: https://www.tchevalier.comSBS TV series Years and Years, 2019, produced by BBC & HBOhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY41jhIP_xIPodcastsFortunately… with Fi and JaneFull Disclosure with James O’Brien, LBC 4th November, Gulwali Passarlay.

One of the wonderful secrets of the London Underground is that the trains and tunnels of the Waterloo & City line are often used in films. In this story by Joe Mungo Reed, the final in our podcast series, a daughter visits her film director father on set, to bring a family situation to his attention. In between takes, Laura contemplates their relationship, her childhood and her father’s character: his control, his absorption, his self-belief. Joe Mungo Reed was born in London and currently lives in Edinburgh. He has a degree in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. His first novel We Begin Our Ascent (published in July 2018) is described by Man Booker Prize winner George Saunders as “a dazzling debut by an exciting and essential new talent.” Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk. You can pre-order We Begin Our Ascent by Joe Mungo Reed here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Northern Line is set during the Second World War. Grace, who works in the box office at a London theatre, finds herself caught at Hampstead tube station during an air-raid shelter. The action unfolds in the claustrophobic platform setting and the story explores equality and social responsibility. Kat Gordon read English at Somerville College, Oxford and worked at Time Out briefly after graduating. She has travelled extensively in East Africa where she also worked as a teacher and an HIV counsellor. She received a distinction for her MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway and her second novel The Hunters is out this month. Kat has lived in Budapest and Reykjavik and is currently settled in north London with her partner and young son. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk. You can buy The Hunters by Kat Gordon here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is a piece of memoir, in which bestselling author Louisa strings moments from her life like beads along the pink ribbon of the Hammersmith & City Line, hooking a memory to each station, from a childhood spent in Paddington to sitting vigil by her beloved’s hospital bed in Euston. Louisa Young was born in London and read history at Cambridge. She is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, The Heroes' Welcome and Devotion – three novels set across the early 20th century, following the Locke and Purefoy families from the outbreak of WW1 the 1930s; The Book of the Heart, a cultural history of that most vital organ, and A Great Task of Happiness, the biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, sculptor and widow of Scott of the Antarctic. She is the adult half of Zizou Corder, authors of the best-selling Lionboy trilogy, which is published in 36 languages. Her latest book is a memoir of her life with the composer Robert Lockhart — You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol (June 2018). Her debut album as a singer/songwriter, with her band Birds of Britain, is also called You Left Early (June 2018). Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Left-Early-Story-Alcohol/dp/0008265178 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A beautiful, magical story about one woman’s commute from Brixton to Highbury along the Victoria Line each day, to her job as an assistant in an artist’s studio. One day a new platform appears at Green Park station, and Elsa is transported to the metro in Delhi. Janice Pariat is a well-known and well-respected writer in India, and is published for the first time in the UK in 2018 with her novella The Nine-Chambered Heart. Her debut collection of short stories, Boats on Land (2012), won her the Sahitya Akademi Young Writer Award 2013 and a Crossword Book Award for Fiction. Her first novel, Seahorse, was shortlisted for The Hindu Prize for Literature 2015. She has lived in London and Turin and is currently based in New Delhi. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nine-Chambered-Heart-Janice-Pariat-ebook/dp/B077MJQQTK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524836668&sr=1-1&keywords=janice+pariat See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a story based on real events. In January 1862, Frederick Leyland, director of the National Telephone Company and one of the wealthiest men in England, mysteriously died on the platform at Blackfriars… Matthew Plampin read English and History of Art at the University of Birmingham and then completed a PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He now lectures on nineteenth-century art and architecture. Plampin is the author of four previous novels, The Street Philosopher, The Devil’s Acre, Illumination and Will & Tom. His fifth novel Mrs Whistler is published in May 2018. He lives in London with his wife and son. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Whistler-Matthew-Plampin/dp/0008163626 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Margaret, the recently widowed narrator of this story, spots her husband Cyril, on the Circle Line, one week after the funeral. It turns out that the underground is: “‘where you go when you die,’ he said. ‘The underground. It’s the perfect opportunity to reflect. To think about what comes next. To wait for God to make a decision about why you’re there, I suppose.’” In Joanna’s story we hear a grieving woman coming to terms with her loss, and finding hope in her future, whilst traversing the city. Joanna Cannon is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling novels Three Things About Elsie and The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. Her writing has appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Guardian, amongst others. She has appeared on BBC Breakfast, interviewed on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5, and is a regular at literary festivals across the UK. Joanna left school at fifteen with one O-level and worked her way through many different jobs – barmaid, kennel maid, pizza delivery expert – before returning to school in her thirties and qualifying as a doctor. Her fascination with the tube, and the myriad possibilities within it, inspired this podcast series.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Things-About-Elsie-LONGLISTED/dp/0008196915 Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My Beautiful Millennial is a story about a lonely yet predatory man and a vulnerable young woman who is trying to end their acquaintance. Trekking out across the Metropolitan Line from Aldgate to Amersham, Dido rehearses how she will leave Paul, the man who has taken her for dinner, to watch films, held her unwilling hand, back given her money, grabbed her jaw… The eldest of five sisters, Tamsin Grey spent her early childhood in England, Scotland and Zambia. Her family settled in south London where Tamsin still lives. She has worked as a cucumber picker, a yoga teacher, an oral historian, and as speechwriter to a secretary of state. Tamsin is a civil servant and SHE’S NOT THERE is her first novel. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In June 2007, a Kuwaiti tourist rides the Jubilee line, reflecting upon a great betrayal of his teenage daughter, Dahlia. He remembers the stories he would tell Dahlia as a child, tales of a parallel world inhabited by jinn. A world which perfectly overlaps our own, just as the underground mirrors the world sitting above it. As he passes each station, he considers his role as a father, and wonders if there is another world, brushing against this one, in which he was able to protect his daughter. Layla AlAmmar grew up in Kuwait, with an American mother and a Kuwaiti father, and has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared in Quail Bell Magazine, The Red Letters St Andrews Prose Journal, and Aesthetica Magazine where she was a finalist for the Creative Writing Award 2014. Her debut novel The Pact We Made will be published in March 2019. She currently lives in Kuwait and is a regular visitor to London, where she spent many summers as a child. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Set on 18th November 1987, this short story features one of the most tragic moments in the history of the Tube. Bakerloo opens at Kilburn station and is narrated by William, an old man, and Anjoum, a young student. Over the course of a day we see their lives intersect and overlap, until they finally meet at the now immortalised time of 7.40pm, on the escalator at Kings Cross station. Katy Mahood was born in 1978 and studied at Edinburgh and Oxford Universities. After a brief career in publishing, she went on to work in marketing, most recently for the cancer charity Maggie’s. She has contributed to a number of publications on architecture and health and writes a blog which features occasional poetry and short fiction. After many years in London she now lives in Bristol with her husband and two children. Entanglement is her first novel and opens and closes at Paddington station. It was flagged by The Observer as a debut to watch this year.Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The second episode of 'Underground: Tales for London' is a funny, wince-inducing family caper along the central line. A careless father walks his toddler into a pillar while rushing for a train, then faces embarrassment and desperation as they try valiantly to find a hospital.Tyler Keevil is the award-winning author of three novels and lectures in creative writing at Cardiff University. His latest novel, No Good Brother, is available now.Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Mandibles, is the first author to feature in our new series, Tales for London. Her story, The Piccadilly Predicament, is about a young woman who has a spot of bother on her way to Heathrow airport.Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Borough Press’ editor Charlotte Cray meets debut novelist Jennifer Ryan, the author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. In this conversation they delve into life in the invented idyllic English village of Chilbury and meet all of its delightful and unsavory characters – with some lovely readings from the book. But most important of all, they meet its subversive all-female choir that fights for its place during WW2. From Party Granny to Shakespeare Granny, we hear about the characters in Jennifer’s life that inspired this novel too. And the genesis of this novel of letters: how Jennifer steeped herself in the letters from the period and buried herself in the diaries from the governmental Mass Observation Project. Plug in to hear a part giggly, part serious conversation about a warm, funny and big-hearted novel of wartime gumption and village spirit which will make your heart sing out – and meet a brilliant new voice in fiction.

Libby Purves meets wildlife presenter Steve Backshall; writer and academic Mary Chamberlain; pickpocket entertainer James Freedman and retailer Trevor Pickett. James Freedman is a pickpocket entertainer whose new show, Man of Steal, exposes how criminals operate and how people can avoid becoming victims of street crime. The show incorporates his sleight of hand trickery and reflects his lifelong study of criminology and the psychology of thieves. James is also an advisor and educator on the subjects of crime prevention and fraud - particularly the growing areas of bank card fraud and identity theft. Man of Steal is at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London. Mary Chamberlain is Emeritus professor of History at Oxford Brookes University. Her book, Fenwomen, was the first to be published by Virago Press 40 years ago and inspired Caryl Churchill's play Fen. When she was 23 Mary and her husband became involved with the anti-apartheid movement and were recruited as couriers for the ANC. The couple were part of a network of couriers around the world who, at great personal risk, smuggled anti-apartheid literature into South Africa. Her first novel, The Dressmaker of Dachau, is published by The Borough Press. Trevor Pickett is a retailer who sells a range of luxury leather goods from his store in London's Mayfair. After starting out as a Saturday boy in the family bicycle shop in Essex, he now runs Pickett which has sold a collection of fine goods ranging from handbags and briefcases to backgammon sets for the last 25 years. Pickett is at Burlington Gardens, London. Steve Backshall is a wildlife presenter and adventurer. During his career he has been charged by elephants, endured the stings of hundreds of bullet ants and encountered a hostile hippopotamus in South Africa. He also led the first ascent of Mount Upuigma in Venezuela, the first ascent of the North Face of Mount Kuli in Borneo, and explored new cave passages in New Britain and Sarawak. He is on tour to promote his novels, the Falcon Chronicles. The Falcon Chronicles are published by Orion Children's Books.