This week, we lose the run of ourselves (verrrry slightly) as we sit down with an undisputed legend - Frances Hardinge. Frances is the author of ten acclaimed and brilliant novels for young adults, the winner of the Costa Book Award (only the second children's author to do so, besides Philip Pullman), and the wearer of an assortment of extremely excellent hats. We wish to put it on record that she wore her hat throughout our conversation - as is only right and proper! Come with us as we take a walk through the absolutely amazing literary landscape that has shaped and formed Frances and her books, and forgive our (alright, Sinéad's) excited fangirling. (She regrets nothing.)
Books mentioned in this episode include Frances's own:
Fly By Night
Twilight Robbery
Gullstruck Island
Verdigris Deep
A Face Like Glass
Cuckoo Song
The Lie Tree
A Skinful of Shadows
Deeplight
Unraveller
The stories that have shaped Frances include:
The Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett
The Time of the Ghost, by Diana Wynne Jones
The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber
The Moomintroll series of stories, by Tove Jansson
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden
The Girl in the Tower, by Katherine Arden
Her Dark Wings, by Melinda Salisbury
Leila and the Blue Fox, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston
And the collected work of H. Mills West (listen to the episode to find the touching reason why this writer's work is included.)
Our podcast bookshop in Ireland is Halfway Up the Stairs: www.halfwayupthestairs.ie
In the UK, check out our storefront on: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyshaped. Disclaimer: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.
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