Number 1 in our series of 8 interviews at the 2023 Words on the Waves Writers Festival, we chat with the festival’s children’s program coordinator and middle grade author, Fiona Lloyd. Fiona’s debut children’s novel ‘Being Jimmy Baxter’ launches with Penguin Random House on 4 July. In our chat, we talk dark themes in middle grade and why she cried when she first saw her book’s cover design.

We also meet with fellow podcasters Two Lit Chicks and ponder the logistical intricacies of Virginia Woolf’s final swim.