Magnificent Disasters

Available for over a year

In this gripping investigation of children’s fiction, award-winning author Katherine Rundell makes a passionate argument for a literature that is often underrated, yet whose magic can live on inside us for the rest of our lives. The best children’s books need to be good enough both for the hungriest child and the wisest, sharpest adult. In the first of five original essays, Katherine Rundell examines how some of the greatest writers in literature have failed in their attempt to write for a young readership, from Tolstoy’s bleak and bloodthirsty stories to Graham Greene’s cute picture books. Being a great writer does not guarantee that you will have the same brilliance when it comes to younger readers. For Oxford academic Katherine Rundell, creating books for children is the most challenging writing of all. She explores what it takes to write for children and why it can bring out the best or worst in writers. Katherine Rundell is an acclaimed writer for children, winning Author of the Year and Book of the Year for Impossible Creatures at the British Book Awards 2024 and winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award. Written and presented by Katherine Rundell Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Kirsten Lass Production Co-ordinator: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan King A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4 Quotation credit: Toni Morrison interview - "Art and Social Justice": A conversation on Broadway with Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sonia Sanchez, Wednesday, June 15, 2016, Ambassador Theatre, New York Photo credit: Nina Subin