My little radio secret revealed & rediscovering the joy of reading not scrolling
Discoveries Prize longlist announced, Fantastic Books Award winners, 2024 Young Journalists Academy, BBC News at One's Salford debut & Scottish press awards
My dear wordsmiths,
Welcome to my new little influx of newbies - I see each and every one of you. Nothing cheers up my inbox quite so much as the little ‘You have a new subscriber’ - it’s the dopamine hit I need at the moment. None of us operate at 100% all the time and my mental battery is sluggish at best right now. But as you know, the world doesn’t stop, so we carry on and your support is a boost.
Just call me DJ Nic
Anyway, I have news I can finally share. Not book related but instead radio related as I’ve signed up for a new show (I’m still doing the day job as editor) and you are the first to know. As some of you might remember I have worked as a radio presenter a few times - my first show was called ‘Lie in with Nicola’ on community station Chorley FM ( if you are a Peter Kay fan you know the relevance and it’s catchline) where I graced the airwaves every Sunday and once even interviewed a dog I was highly allergic to (only me). In other Peter Kay news I went to see him the other day at the now infamous Co-op Arena in Manchester - read my review here via Manchester World.
Next up, I moved to the BBC (BBC Radio Lancashire) where I co-presented a show on Sunday afternoons called Grin and Tonic ( during lockdown renamed Sunday afternoon show) with my long-time friend, wonderful person and radio legend Gemma Ray. Much shenanigans ensued as you can imagine (varying from persuading Chesney Hawkes to film a video from his LA back garden, broadcasting in Sainburys car park to getting Reiki treatment while operating a radio desk live on air).
A few years on and after some indecision on my part I have taken up the kind offer from Central FM, a commercial DAB station covering the North West & expanding rapidly, to present a Sunday evening show from 7-9pm. This suits me as it means I can work around my day job (which also includes podcast including Booky Pod) and myriad other projects. I’m quite excited even if I have forgotten which buttons to press once again - but I have missed the joy of radio. My first show is Sunday (eek) and you can expect a chilled few hours with some top notch tunes and chat - a lowkey launch while I acquaint myself with a new system and new radio home.
Booky Nic is back
My writing drought has had an unexpected boost as I’ve found more time to read again - by actively trying not to scroll. This is fortunate as my friends at Harper North have been sending me many, I keep buying books at airports and I often raid charity shops. I actually start to worry if my TBR (to be read) pile is nothing short of teetering. The benefit of my enormous book collection means my office is extremely well soundproofed mind you - which is useful for podcast. I’m hoping to share a few more reviews as I try get back to pages and away from mindlessly scrolling my life away.
A few weeks ago I was in the most magical of bookshops and bought a beautiful leather-bound copy of a childhood favourite ‘The Children of the New Forest’ by Captain Marryat - who remembers it?
News, events and opportunities
Books and writing:
Discoveries prize longlist announced: Curtis Brown Creative and Curtis Brown partner with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run Discoveries, a unique writing development prize and programme for unpublished women writers, now in its fourth year. The Discoveries longlist includes 16 unpublished novels-in-progress chosen from almost 3,000 entries.
The longlisted writers are residents of the UK and Ireland and haven’t previously been published in long form. The longlisted titles have been selected by the Chair of judges and bestselling author Kate Mosse and her judging panel - writers Natasha Brown and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Curtis Brown literary agent Jess Molloy, and Anna Davis, Founder and MD of Curtis Brown Creative. (Full longlist via link)
Fantastic Book Awards celebration: A madcap story about a boy on stilts enrolling at a school for giants and a hilarious tale about the world's worst fairy are among the stories most loved by young bookworms in Lancashire. Lancashire County Council's School Library Service's Fantastic Book Awards 2024 saw thousands of children vote for their favourite read this spring.
The awards are aimed at encouraging a love of reading for pleasure while also promoting independent reading and motivating pupils to read more widely During the selection process, more than 4,500 children from years 5 and 6 voted for their preferred books and illustrations, shared stories and got the chance to meet the authors and illustrators.
The 2024 awards culminated with an exciting celebration event held at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), which saw the authors and illustrators of their top reads receiving the accolades. Notching up the top spots in the Fantastic Book Awards were authors Hannah Moffatt for her book 'Small' along with the illustrator Rory Walker, Jenny McLachlan for 'Stink: worst fairy ever', Jennifer Killick for 'Dreadwood', Katie and Kevin Tsang for ' 'Space Blasters: Suzie saves the universe' with illustrator Amy Nguyen and Liz Flanagan for 'Wildsmith ' with illustrator Jo Todd-Stanton.
Journalism
BBC News at One debuts at Salford: Monday June 3 will be the first BBC News at One broadcast from Salford as part of its new look and format, making it the first daily network TV news bulletin outside London. This forms part of the BBC’s Across the UK (ATUK) plan, which aims to move power and decision-making across the country to better reflect, represent and serve all parts of the UK. BBC News presenters to front the one hour long News at One include Ben Brown, Anna Foster, Tina Daheley, Jon Kay and Sally Nugent, who will present the first edition.
2024 Young Journalists Academy (London): The Young Journalists’ Academy (YJA) is a free programme for young people to inspire and train the newsmakers of tomorrow. The YJA gives aspiring journalists the skills and the contacts they need to kick-start their careers in the media. Applications are now open for the summer academy.
Find a journalism course via the NCTJ: Always the best place to start when looking for a journalism course in the UK, plus plenty to read about life as a journalism, developing professional qualifications and more.
Scottish Press award winners: My National World colleague and, veteran Edinburgh Evening News political editor Ian Swanson, was presented with a the Lifetime Achievement award by by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes at the Scottish Press Awards last night (Wednesday).
The Scottish Daily Mail scooped the Newsbrand of the Year award for the second year in a row and the The Inverness Courier was chosen as the Weekly Newsbrand of the Year. A total of 28 awards crediting the vital work of print and digital journalism were announced in celebration of the finest journalism in Scotland.
Until next week.. Nicola xx