Katherine Rundell brings Vick to tears

In a first for Bookshelfie, Vick is brought to tears by bestselling author Katherine Rundell’s rousing speech on the importance of teaching children courage and not breaking faith with the beauty and love of the world.

Katherine’s novels for children have won the Waterstones Book of the Year, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Children’s Book Award, among many others. In 2024, she was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year, and Impossible Creatures won the Children’s Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and her books for adults include Super-Infinite, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. The third installment of her Impossible Creatures series The Neverfear is out now with Bloomsbury.

Katherine’s book choices are:

06:02 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

15:00 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido

21:18 Emma by Jane Austen

30:09 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

37:50 Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

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This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.