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How a 13 Year-old Girl's Diary Inspires Young People to Challenge Prejudice

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Last week I attended the Anne Frank Trust’s Annual Lunch for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 . Candle-lighters at the Anne Frank Trust Holocaust Memorial Day lunch, 2026. If you haven’t heard of this excellent charity before, the first thing you should know is that while it’s inspired by one of the most well-known victims of the Jewish holocaust, it aims to educate and empower young people to challenge all forms of prejudice, not just antisemitism. In a moving candle-lighting ceremony, we heard the stories of a survivor of the Cambodian genocide and a young Ukrainian refugee, as well as a holocaust survivor and – perhaps most poignantly, because so immediate – the widow of one of the two men who died in the recent Manchester synagogue attack. Anne Frank photographed at school, Joods Lyceum, December 1941, six months before going into hiding with her family, July 1942. By Anonymous - http://www.annefrank.org/nl/ Anne-Frank/De-nazis-bezetten-Nederland/Naar-het-Joods-Lyceum/, Public...
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A Year of Horse Books: The Pony Whisperer by Esme Higgs and Jo Cotterill - reviewed by Katherine Roberts

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February 2026 sees the start of the Chinese Year of the Horse, bringing energy and bold moves after last year's snakeskin shedding. And this is a Fire Horse year, which means even more energy and even bolder moves! To get into the mood, I drew this picture at an author retreat earlier this month. It's based on an ex-racehorse I used to ride. He must have had a lot of energy because he once won a race, though if you saw him lying down in his field snoozing on a sunny day you'd never guess he'd seen a racecourse. That's the secret to winning races, plenty of downtime in-between, which for us humans means time to read books (not screens with their constant distractions). Since this is a National Year of Reading and also a Year of the Horse, I'm aiming to review a horse-themed book each month, bringing you a mix of fiction and non-fiction for all ages. We kick off with a title for young readers aged 8-11: "The Pony Whisperer" by Esme Higgs and Jo Cotteril...
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Why can't we be happy for anyone anymore?

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I have been staying a little bit clear of social media since the Christmas break allowed me to take a pause, reflect and re-charge. But as I slide towards the building momentum created by the events and projects due to take place in 2026, I have posted a few times and tried to keep up with things. Now, I almost wish it would cease to exist.   It’s just that I don’t see positive comments about anything anymore. The internet is awash with bitter jealousy, vengeful spite and comments designed to pull anything and anyone down. It’s always had trolls and bots ‘commenting’ on everything, but lately it’s got nastier and more humourless.   It isn’t just to be found in the cyberspace – there’s always been a whole culture of build ‘em up, pull ‘em down in this country – it’s just got worse. So, I am asking, why can’t we offer ‘congratulations’ or say ‘well done’ anymore?   I knew who my real friends were as soon as I started being published, writing and performing, because along ca...
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January Brings the Snow -- Susan Price

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  If that's the view from the front door, I'm staying in. That Storm Goretti was some storm.    And that's the view from the back door. It weighed down and broke my rose arch.            Still....   The Ghost Drum My story is set (says the cat) in a far-away Czardom, where the winter is a cold half-year of darkness.         In that country the snow falls deep and lies long, lies and freezes until bears can walk on its thick crust of ice. The ice glitters on the snow like white stars in a white sky! In the north of that country all the winter is one long night, and all that long night long, the sky-stars glisten in their darkness, and the snow-stars glitter in their whiteness, and between the two there hangs a shivering curtain of cold twilight.      In winters there, the cold is so fierce the frost can be heard crackling and snapping as it travels through the air. The snow is so deep that...
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Ambitious Horse Books by Katherine Roberts

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Twenty years ago, I wrote a rather long novel about Alexander the Great from the point of view of his famous warhorse Bucephalus. At the time, I had a brilliant children's publisher (Chicken House) keen to publish my book in hardcover for the 10+ market who already enjoyed my fantasy novels. Unfortunately, bookshops did not share the same view and rejected the hardcover, so publication was delayed while a more suitable format was found for the book that would please everyone - which, as everyone knows, is impossible. In the end, "I am the Great Horse" (edited down from its original 200,000 words to a modest 150,000) enjoyed its scheduled hardcover publication in the US with Chicken House's partner Scholastic, and hit the UK shelves a year later than planned in paperback. Having missed its publicity slot over here, it sold averagely. Or perhaps my novel, being rather long, historical and written by a horse , was just too quirky for the children's market? Anyway, t...
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Approaching the Light by Allison Symes

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. I trust it’s not too late to wish you a Happy New Year. January does seem to go on for ever and ever, amen. There is a wonderful Brian Bilston poem about that ( Mnemonic ), which is worth looking up if you haven’t come across this. It always makes me grin. There is a plus side to January. As the month goes on, we are literally approaching the light. The evenings seem longer (especially noticeable if you are taking the dog out).  I like to write and read a mixture of light and dark stories. In the latter, I want there to be some sense of hope. For light stories, I want some “bite” to them. Humorous stories can make you think while they’re entertaining you.  I prefer my characters to be a mixture of dark and light given nobody is perfect and I don’t like wishy-washy, too good to be true portrayals. I suppose this is why I identify far more with Jo March from Little Women than I do with her sister, Beth. I al...
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