The Reading Cafe
WINNER of Scotland’s Emerging Talent at the 2026 Scottish Podcast Awards.
WINNER of Best Children and Young Adults’ podcast in the 2024 Independent Podcast Awards.
Kids FINALIST in 2025’s British Podcast Awards and Books FINALIST in 2025's Independent Podcast Awards!
Please leave a 5-star review and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any episodes!
Author testimonials
"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)
"The team at the Reading Cafe podcast are fantastic: highly enthusiastic, perfectly organised and well researched and experienced in their individual roles. It is additionally so refreshing to chat to young people who really know their stuff and have a passion for talking about all things books. I loved working with them on promotion for my book, Look What You Made Me Do, and was delighted to share my writing and reading thoughts with the presenters and guest speakers." (Kat McKenna)
Episodes
Episodes
May 8, 2023
May 8, 2023
27 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 14+
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!
Apr 16, 2023
Apr 16, 2023
34 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 14+
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
Mar 1, 2023
Mar 1, 2023
25 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 11+
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!
Dec 18, 2022
Dec 18, 2022
25 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 9-11
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
Oct 31, 2022
Oct 31, 2022
46 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 14+
🎃 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...
Aug 28, 2022
Aug 28, 2022
33 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 12+
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/
Mar 16, 2022
Mar 16, 2022
13 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 13+
Welcome back to The Reading Cafe! In this episode, we're talking with S2 about graphic novels, dream memoirs and the secret diaries they would love to read... If you're thirsty for literary chat, our Reading Leaders are on hand to brew up some good book talk. If you haven't already, subscribe to make sure you don't miss a single episode and share The Reading Cafe with everyone you know.
Dec 12, 2021
Dec 12, 2021
16 min
APPROX AGE RATING: 12+
Welcome to the Reading Café – a brand new podcast from Holy Cross High School aiming to get people talking about reading. In each episode, we’ll be chatting with 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!