USEFUL LINKS
FOR WRITERS AND READERS
Federation of Children’s Book Groups
If you want to support and encourage your own or other children in reading, if you want to learn more about children’s books or set up a family reading group, if you are a teacher or librarian who would like to share your passion and expertise about books with your local community, the Federation of Children’s Book Groups offers you the opportunity to do all of these.
Writing for Children and How to Write a Childrens Book
www.writersworkshop.co.uk/writing-for-children.html
Discover everything you need to know about writing for children, from writing picture books to YA fiction.
Writers & Artists
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/
The best industry advice for writers and artists as well as writing services for every stage of your career.
Writers Advice Centre
The Writers' Advice Centre for Children's Books is a literary consultancy service offering advice and training to children's writers.
Books for Keeps
booksforkeeps.co.uk/
Books for Keeps is the UK's leading, independent children's book magazine.
SCBWI British Isles
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators The international professional organization for writers and illustrators of children's literature.
Association of Christian Writers
Society for Christian writers in UK
Children’s Books
Directory of authors, illustrators, publishers, organisations.
Love Reading 4 Kids
Access to the biggest children’s book store. Recommendations and lists. Reviews.
Scattered Authors' Society
The SAS is a group of authors for children and teenagers. Members keep in touch with each other online and via the SAS newsletter.
Charlotte's Library
charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/
Charlotte Taylor is a trusted American reviewer of science fiction and fantasy books for middle grade children.
Cathy's Comps and Calls
compsandcalls.com/
Free-to-enter writing competitions
Kudos Writing Competition
kudoswritingcompetitions.com/
Really useful website containing listings of upcoming writing and poetry competitions.
National Literacy Trust
literacytrust.org.uk
The National Literacy Trust is a national charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. They work to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the UK's most disadvantaged communities, where up to 40 per cent of people have literacy problems.
Young Writers' Society
youngwriterssociety.com
An online writing community for younger writers to share their work, connect with other writers and offer constructive feedback.
Book Crossing
bookcrossing.com
The World's Library is a smart social networking site. BookCrossing is the act of giving a book a unique identity so, as the book is passed from reader to reader, it can be tracked and so connects its readers. There are currently 1,181,206 BookCrossers and 10,179,244 books travelling throughout 132 countries.
ABC Tales
abctales.com
ABCtales puts writers and editors together. The one can’t thrive without the other, and what we’ve found is that there’s an editor in every writer and a writer in every editor. Because there’s as much to be learned from editing as from writing, giving feedback is at the heart of ABC tales.
The Society of Authors
societyofauthors.org
The Society is a membership organisation which has over 9,000 members writing in all areas of the profession. Whatever your specialisation, you are eligible to join as soon as you have been offered a contract from a publisher, broadcaster or agent.
The BBC Writers' Room
bbc.co.uk/writersroom
The part of the BBC website devoted to finding and championing new talent for all BBC platforms – offers advice, inspiration and firsthand experience from established writers.
Book Trust
Get the best book recommendations for your children, and find out about our many projects and programmes.
Scottish Book Trust
scottishbooktrust.com
Scotland's leading agency for the promotion of reading, writing & literature.
The Story Starter
thestorystarter.com
The Story Starter randomly generates story starters. This idea generator can be used for short stories, novels, plays, scripts, or just for fun. It's also a great tool to combat writer's block.
Literary Festivals
literaryfestivals.co.uk
Dates and details of over 300 Literary Festivals throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and 50 more in Australia.
LitRejections
litrejections.com
LitRejections helps writers persevere through rejection.
With the ability to publish their own stories of rejection on the site, exclusive interviews with industry professionals, advice articles, inspirational quotes, and full access to an extensive database of worldwide literary agents, the website is a haven for the rejected.
Project Gutenberg
gutenberg.org
Project Gutenberg offers over 42,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.
Free online thesaurus
thesaurus.com
The Oxford English Dictionary
oed.com
The Encyclopaedia Britannica
britannica.com
The British Library
portico.bl.uk