Children’s Laureate, Malorie Blackman, named as UK’s most influential black figure

According to a report from BBC Entertainment and Arts news online, author Malorie Blackman has topped publishing company Powerful Media’s annual Powerlist, which also included athlete Mo Farah and media agency boss Karen Blackett.

Malorie Blackman began her career as a computer programmer and TV scriptwriter before writing her first book, as she believed that there was a lack of children's stories featuring black characters.



She has now written more than 60 books, including Noughts and Crosses, Pig-Heart Boy, Hacker and Cloud-Busting.  We have a selection of her books in both the Discovery and War Memorial Libraries, including her new book Trust Me.

New Books

We have introduced 'New books' pages on our blog for the Discovery and War Memorial Libraries to let you know what is new for you to read. We will be providing regular updates and promoting our new books based upon a theme in the Discovery Library and providing a short synopsis for new books in the War Memorial Library.

To kick off, we have chosen 'next in the series…' as our theme in the Discovery Library, with new books available by Anthony Horowitz, Jacqueline Wilson, Ally Carter, Andrew Lane, Lauren Child and Robert Muchamore.

Keep a look out in the Discovery Library for the ‘recommended reads’ bookmarks in books that other students have enjoyed, and our ‘like for like author’ shelf talkers, suggesting other authors you might like. Don't forget to ask your Librarians to help you find a book and check out Lovereading4kids for reading recommendations and to find out more about your favourite authors.

Lights, camera, read!

We have a new display of books that have been made into films in the War Memorial Library. Including Meg Rosoff's teen dystopian novel How I Live Now, the gothic supernatural romance Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the spellbinding and tragic The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.  Come and browse and borrow and let us know which you enjoyed best, the book or the film!

Carve out time to read this Halloween!

Why not choose a 'scary' book to read over half term? Come and browse our display of horror books for Halloween in the Discovery Library. We have something for everyone - from vampires to werewolves and books that are horrifying and funny!

Man Booker 2013 winner announced

Eleanor Catton has won this year’s Man Booker prize with her novel The Luminaries.  The Luminaries is a gold-rush murder mystery novel set in the 19^thCentury. 

At 28, the author from New Zealand is the youngest person to win the award and her novel is the longest winner at 832 pages.

Post-a-read - what we were reading!

Thank you to everyone who told us what they were reading over the summer holidays.  We had postcards from all over the world – from Canada to Croatia and Las Vegas to Amsterdam! Come and have a look at our display, which is on the noticeboard outside the Discovery Library.

National Poetry Day

National Poetry Day is a nationwide celebration of poetry held every year on the first Thursday of October.  It's a chance to celebrate and inspire creativity through poetry.  This year it took place on the 3^rd October and the theme was ‘water water everywhere’. 

The first Young Poet Laureate for London was announced yesterday by Poet Laureate Carol Anne Duffy.  Her name is Warsan Shire, a 24 year old Kenyan-born Somali poet and she was chosen from a shortlist of six young poets.  Ealier this year she won the Brunel University inaugural prize for African Poetry.

To find out about more about poetry and for advice on writing your own visit The Poetry Society and the Young Poets Network.

We are hoping to welcome back Adisa the amazing performance poet www.adisaworld.com to TRS next term so watch this space!