The Reading Cafe
WINNER of Best Children and Young Adults’ podcast in the 2024 Independent Podcast Awards. The Reading Cafe is the podcast from Holy Cross High School that aims to get people talking about reading! Listen to young people interviewing popular writers such as Robin Stevens (Murder Most Unladylike), Mark Millar (Millarworld comics), Elle McNicoll (A Kind of Spark), Tom Oldfield (Ultimate Football Heroes) and Kayvion Lewis (Thieves’ Gambit). “I was so impressed by ’The Reading Cafe podcast’—it’s run by children, for children under Mr Kelly’s expert tutelage. I was so impressed by the professionalism and efficiency of the entire process, and found the interview to be one of my favourites, with insightful questions and a fun discussion all round.” (Aisha Bushby) “I had a great time doing the Reading Cafe podcast. The interviewers were extremely knowledgeable and inquisitive, and I had to be on my toes to answer all their questions!” (Darren Shan) “I was delighted to be interviewed by The Reading Cafe - it’s a wonderful podcast from enthusiastic and passionate young podcasters who have created something very impressive. My interview was fun and engaging, and I still have fond memories of it a year later.” (Robin Stevens) Please leave a 5-star review and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any episodes!
Listen on:
Bringing you a fresh brew of book recommendations
Welcome to the Reading Café – a brand new podcast from Holy Cross High School aiming to get people talking about reading. In each episode, S6 Reading Leaders will be chatting with S1-3 pupils about their literary dopplegangers, the villains they love to hate and the books they’d love to see make the transition from script to the screen.
Be sure to subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode and share it with everyone you know!
Episodes
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe!
Kayvion Lewis is the author of Thieves' Gambit, winner of the 2024 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers. This thrilling and wildly imaginative crime novel is the first in a series which looks certain to become the next big YA hit. Excitingly, it is now on its way to the big screen, having been sold to Lionsgate who have brought Creed and Transformers director, Steven Caple Jr, onto the project.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL DISCOVER:
How Kayvion makes sure twists are unpredictable
What she would say to her characters if she met them in real life
The turning point in her journey as a writer
Plus, Kayvion reads an EXCLUSIVE preview of her new book, Heist Royale, which arrives in November.
This episode also features Holy Cross History teacher, Lucy Kinnie, who will be revealing the historical crime that has arrested her attention above all others...
To learn more about Kayvion Lewis, visit: https://www.kayvionlewis.com/
You wouldn’t want to miss any episodes of The Reading Cafe, so be sure to subscribe!Please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and… keep reading!
Tuesday Mar 19, 2024
Tuesday Mar 19, 2024
Welcome to The Reading Cafe - the podcast from Holy Cross High School that aims to get people talking about reading!
The inaugural Reading Cafe LIVE audience event featured an interview with Ann Marie Di Mambro, writer of the popular National 5 English set text, Tally’s Blood.
During this excellent interview, Ann Marie was in conversation with two of our outstanding S5 Reading Leaders, Elsa and Grace. Our audience of National 5 English pupils had the unique chance to hear the writer’s responses to questions about the characters, setting and themes of Tally’s Blood in preparation for the exam in May.
They also enjoyed live scenes from the play performed by National 5 Drama pupils, Caroline and Martha, and Higher Drama students, Maria and David. After each scene, Ann Marie provides answers to an 8-mark style commonality question, focused on theme/relationships.
This is an invaluable resource for all pupils who are studying Tally’s Blood for their National 5 English exam, so make sure you take lots of notes as you listen!
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro/Welcome to The Reading Cafe
00:04:37 - Ann Marie Di Mambro bio/Interview part 1 (setting/Rosinella/relationships)
00:14:38 - Act 1, Scene 11 and 8-mark discussion: theme of love
00:19:15 - Interview part 2 (setting/character/theme of identity/conflict)
00:23:49 - Act 2, Scene 8 and 8-mark discussion: relationship between Massimo and Rosinella
00:28:52 - National 5 Q & A: 1) Rosinella’s childlessness 2) Key scene: Italian experience 3) Theme of loss
00:34:21 - Final questions: If you could change one thing.../favourite character
00:39:24 - Thanks and closing remarks
SUBSCRIBE: @ApplePodcasts @spotify @audible @podbeancom
FOLLOW: @ReadingCafePod
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe!
Elle McNicoll is an award-winning author and screenwriter whose debut novel, A Kind of Spark, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Blackwells Book of 2020 and the Blue Peter Book Award. The novel was recently adapted into a fantastic CBBC show. She also established The Adrien Prize - an award for novels which feature disabled characters.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT: • Working as a professional author • Learning to come up with creative ideas • Elle’s experience of writing for television
This special transition episode also features P7 pupils from Holy Cross associated primaries, St Paul’s and St Mary’s, as well as guests from Support for Learning, James McManus and Aimee Gibson.
To learn more about Elle McNicoll, visit: https://www.ellemcnicoll.com/
You wouldn’t want to miss any episodes of The Reading Cafe, so be sure to subscribe!Please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and… keep reading!
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe for a new season of awesome author interviews and riveting reading recommendations!
Matt Oldfield is a hugely popular author of non-fiction (Ultimate Football Heroes, Unbelievable Football) and fiction (Johnny Ball: Football Genius) books about... you guessed it, football!
His books fly off the library shelves and bring the lives of soccer stars into focus for young fans with interesting details of their journeys from "playground to pitch".
Listen to this superb interview to hear about Matt's "training routine" for writing, his approach to research and lots more, including his thoughts on the rise of women's football and the unsung heroes he'd love to see make their way into the Ultimate Football Heroes series. You'll also hear a reading from Matt and some half-time wisdom from two of our teachers from the Holy Cross High School PE team.
We have lots of amazing content coming up on this season of The Reading Cafe, so be sure to subscribe and please leave a 5 star review on the podcast platform of your choice!
Follow on X/Twitter: @ReadingCafePod
Monday May 08, 2023
Monday May 08, 2023
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe for the second part of our interview with Comic King, Mark Millar!
In this episode, S6 Reading Leaders Ellie and Emma ask Mark about his opinions on the state of comic movie adaptations, his feelings about graphic novels finding their way into the classroom and lots more. It's a brilliant listen and we are very grateful to Mark for making time in his relentlessly busy schedule time to appear on the show.
Be sure to subscribe to The Reading Cafe on your podcast platform of choice as we have lots of exciting guests and shows planned. Also, please do leave a review if you enjoy what you hear, and follow us on Twitter at @ReadingCafePod to keep up-to-date with all our news.
As always... keep reading!
Sunday Apr 16, 2023
Sunday Apr 16, 2023
This is the first episode of our two-part interview with Comic King and New York Times best-selling writer, Mark Millar.
Mark is the creator of the best-selling Marvel book of all time, Civil War, and his own Millarworld franchise was purchased by Netflix in 2017.
Listen to Mark talking about his writing process, his own heroes and advice for young people who hope to get into the comic industry.
Follow The Reading Café on Twitter at @ReadingCafePod
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Today’s episode arrives just in time for World Book Day 2023!
This is a discussion special in which our S1 pupils talk about Reading Resolutions, classic quotes, captivating covers & thought-provoking themes.
Also, listen to find out who we have lined up for The Reading Cafe as our next interview guest…
If you aren’t already following The Reading Cafe on Apple Podcasts/Audible, hit that subscribe button to make sure each new episode reaches you!
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
We ended the year on a high with our first Reading Cafe transition event, which gave Primary Seven pupils from St Bride’s Primary (Bothwell) and St John the Baptist Primary (Uddingston) the opportunity to speak to Adrien Prize nominee Aisha Bushby (A Pocketful of Stars/A Flash of Fireflies) about her writing process. This event was also the first to involve three S2-4 pupils as Junior Reading Leaders!
http://www.aishabushby.com
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🎃
Fittingly for our Spooky Season Special, our interview guest is Master of Horror, Darren Shan!
Darren is the creator of Zom-B, Archibald Lox and Cirque du Freak. His books are on sale in 40 countries in 32 languages and have sold 30 million copies worldwide.
Darren talks with our S6 Reading Leaders and S1-4 Shanfans about his inspirations for writing, his relationship with his readership and his advice for would-be writers...
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe! In this episode, we speak to Robin Stevens, author of the award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series. This is a fantastic interview and it was wonderful to be able to give some of her Holy Cross High School superfans the chance to talk with her. Soon after this interview, Robin was awarded Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year 2022 for her new novel, Ministry of Unladylike Activity.
https://robin-stevens.co.uk/