Nadia Shireen

Nadia Shireen was our Writer in Residence from February to August 2018. She got children everywhere writing themselves as the star of their stories, and also blogged about funny picture books, school libraries and how to write children's books for a living. 

Nadia Shireen was our Time to Read author and illustrator in 2017, and is well known for The Cow Who Fell to Earth and The Bumblebear, among many other brilliant picture books.

Back in February 2018, when she was appointed, Nadia Shireen said:

'I couldn’t be more delighted to be BookTrust’s new Writer in Residence, mainly because one of my favourite things in the world is talking about myself. Sadly, Booktrust have quietly taken me to one side and told me that a) I’m not actually moving in with them and b) I’m not allowed to just write a series of blogs detailing how great I am.

'With that in mind, I’ve grudgingly decided to use my residency to focus on a couple of areas of personal interest. First, I want to celebrate funny books: from silly picture books to witty novels and everything inbetween. Secondly, I feel it’s really important that every young reader can see themselves represented in the books they read – regardless of gender, ethnicity or social class. And while it’s important for us grown-ups to keep talking about it, it’s even more important to get children involved in actually changing things.'

Hear from our current Writer in Residence