Ready to submit your manuscript but unsure where to start? Pitch Perfect demystifies the publishing process and teaches you how to create a submission package that stands out.
This hands-on workshop by Isabelle Kenyon (CEO Fly on the Wall Press, Manchester) covers the current publishing landscape, helping you understand what agents and publishers are looking for today. You’ll learn to craft the three essential components of every successful submission: a compelling cover letter that introduces you and your work with impact, a clear synopsis that captures your story’s arc without losing its essence, and polished sample pages that hook readers from the first line.
Whether you’re a debut author or refining your approach, you’ll leave with practical skills, industry insights, and the confidence to present your work professionally. The workshop concludes with a Q&A session where you can ask specific questions about your manuscript and submission strategy.
About Isabelle Kenyon Isabelle Kenyon is the CEO of Manchester publishing house ‘Fly on the Wall Press’, and was named a Leader of the Year by the Bookseller in 2025. Founded in 2018, she has led Fly on the Wall Press to win Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 (North), achieving finalist status five times in the years 2021-2025. She is the MA Module Leader for ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ at Arts University Bournemouth, and the author of psychological thriller ‘The Dark Within Them’, poetry collections including Growing Pains (Indigo Dreams) and one short story with Wild Pressed Books (‘The Town Talks’). She has had work published internationally in journals such as Ink, Sweat and Tears and newspapers such as The Somerville Times and The Bookseller. She previously coordinated the Northern Fiction Alliance and runs PR campaigns for writers and publishers under Kenyon Author Services (www.kenyonauthorservices.co.uk).
Last week, we had rapping, live singing, songwriting, poetry, VR sessions, an open mic and finally a choir happening in our libraries.
All of the events were tied into National Storytelling Week and linked to the reveal of our VR films from The Pulse of Bradford which went down a storm.
Huge thanks to the National Literacy Trust in Bradford for the wonderful rap and poetry workshops they put on for young people.
Today we want to share with you some of our highlights from the week.
Here is a song written in the library, for the library and performed in the library.
We’d love to have a permanent choir… let us know your thoughts. And do keep those book reviews coming…
Next week our libraries will be thriving with events for National Storytelling Week, from a choir at Ilkley Library, to songwriting workshops at Keighley Library and a live performance from singer-songwriting Boo Hewerdine. There will be poetry workshops as well as an Open Mic on Feb 7th. Alongside these amazing events, our VR headsets will be touring, featuring films of young creatives from the district who were commissioned to write music and poetry about their city. Here, poet Alfie Wilson, tells us a little about his involvement.
Bradford Libraries have multiple events running for young creatives across the Bradford District this February.
On Saturday 7 February City Library is holding the celebration event for The Pulse, for an amazing project where 3 young poets and 2 young musicians had the opportunity to work with professional poet Gaia Holmes to create new VR poetry and music media that will be touring Keighley, Manningham, Shipley, Ilkley and City Libraries that week. “This project has given me so many different insights into the creative industries. Gaia was such an amazing mentor – she worked with each of us individually to augment our unique style and help us to build on this. So much effort has gone into this project with all the VR elements and creating the poetry and music to go along with it, I am so excited to finally share everything we have created!” – Alfie Wilson, Poet To celebrate the launch of this unprecedented project and kick off Storytelling Week 2026,the event will also include a poetry workshop run by the amazing Gaia Holmes from 2pm-4pm as well as an open mic during the launch event which is running 6pm-8pm (both at City Library) open to all young creatives with something they want to share.
We chose the name Pulse because we want this project to showcase all young people’s voices, which we think are the heartbeat of Bradford – proudly the youngest city in the UK. So, if you or your friends have something to share, come along to Bradford City Library and get involved with all the exciting events we are running throughout the day.
In November last year, I was invited to Bingley Library to meet with members of Bound by Books, a youth reading group. At the time, I was acting Development Officer for Young People. I had the most enchanting evening, listening to the group speak about the book they were reading, (Lying About Last Summer), and speaking with them about their plans, hopes and dreams. The group is run by Ehlissya Naqvi, Literacy Lead for Youth – (313 Foundation) Bound by Books . She is an incredible young woman!This project is exactly what we want to encourage in our libraries.…especially during The National Year of Reading 2026.
Ehlissya says…
Bound by Books is a youth reading group for experienced readers aged 10 to 16, and we meet every Tuesday from 5:15pm to 6:15pm in Bingley Library.
I’m the Literacy Lead for Youth at 313 Foundation, which is how the group first began. We have just finished our first six-week cycle, where we read The Hunger Games, and now we’re going to be reading Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman. We try to choose books that make us think deeply, we like mysteries, thrillers, dystopian stories and books where you need to notice clues and understand the bigger ideas behind a character’s decisions.
I started Bound by Books because I wanted young people like me to have a place where reading feels exciting. A lot of people read online now, which is great, but reading a whole story together and talking about what it means feels different. In our group, everyone gets to have a voice, even if they are shy at first, and we do creative things like weekly reflection questions, short activities linked to sections of the book, and conversations about the themes. It has already helped people become more confident sharing their ideas, and it feels like a real community.
One of the things that makes Bound by Books special is that we try to bring stories to life, not just read them. We have started connecting with other people and places because of the books we choose. For example, one of our members designed and made Bound by Books badges for the group, which helped us all feel proud of being part of something we built ourselves. We also go together to the Bingley Youth Café as a group, so we can share ideas with other organisations and be part of the wider community. We even met our local MP, Anna Dixon, who encouraged us to keep building confidence through reading and to keep developing our ideas.
One of the most exciting things we’ve done is start a relationship with our local PCSO, Sofia Hussain, who visited our group at the library. She showed us her uniform and talked about teamwork, fairness and staying safe in the community. Because the genres we like often involve mysteries and investigation, we asked if we could learn more about real-life techniques that police use. Through that conversation, we have been able to approach Shipley Police Station to ask if we could visit and see how things work behind the scenes, like how officers look at evidence or use CCTV. It’s still being considered, but even being able to ask has made a big difference to us. We’ve also invited the police to join some of our creative sessions, where we explore fictional investigative techniques like fingerprinting, interview skills, analysing clues and building theories, because that connects directly with the kind of stories we enjoy reading.
All of this has happened in only one cycle, which makes me really proud of everyone in the group. We started with a simple idea of reading together, and now we have built confidence, made new connections, shared creative skills, learned from each other and even reached places we never expected, like speaking with our MP and connecting with the police. None of this would have been possible without the support of the Bingley Library staff, who have been really kind and helpful from the beginning. They always encourage us, help with the space, and make us feel like the library belongs to young people too.
If you would like to join the group, please contact Bingley Library.
We are thrilled to introduce you to our child reviewers. Our latest critic is Yaseen Mahmood, aged 6, who enjoys sports like football and badminton and is really good at maths!
Title: Bunny Verses Monkey: Machine Mayhem
Author: James Smart
Genre: Fun Books/ Comic Book
Summary: This book is an adventure about a robot learning about life from a group of woodland animals with special powers. Lots of things go wrong, it’s very funny and easy to read.
My Thoughts: This book was really funny. My Favourite characters where Monkey and Skunkey because they invent cool electronic gadgets like the “all seeing eye”. The chapters are quite short and the pictures are very bright. I would recommend this book to children aged between 6-9 years. It was adventurous and funny.
We’re thrilled to announce that submissions for the Young Poet Laureate Programme are now open!
This is an incredible opportunity for young poets to showcase their talent and creativity.
Are you (or do you know of) a young poet with a passion for words? Enter now for the chance to become a Young Poet Laureate and inspire others with your voice.
The Young Poet Laureate Programme opportunity is open for entries, giving KS2 and KS3 students the incredible chance to become their region’s Young Poet Laureate.
The 12 appointed laureates will receive 1-to-1 mentoring with professional poets, publication and performance opportunities, commissioned writing work and the chance to join a national network championing poetry in schools and communities.
Up to 120 shortlisted poets will also be published in a celebratory anthology and invited (with a member of staff) to a regional masterclass in April–May, featuring workshops with poets, goody bags and a final performance for the judging panel.
How to apply:
Entries must be submitted by a member of school staff using the form on the Young Poet Laureate webpage. Each student should submit one Word document including:
· A short personal statement explaining why they would like to be a Young Poet Laureate for their region (max 200 words)
Reviewer Bio – My name is Noor, I am a ten -year -old girl. I love playing sports, especially Football. I also love cats and I have a pet cat named Mia.Here are my two reviews.
Title: Running Wild
Author: Micheal Morpurgo
Genre: Adventure
Summary: This story is about a young boy called Will who goes on holiday with his mum to try and forget the memories of a tragic incident, that has changed their lives forever.
Whilst on holiday, Will is riding an elephant named Oona when a Tsunami hits. Oona instinctively runs away from the sea and towards the jungle, but she doesn’t stop running. Will is desperate and scared and has no idea what has become of his mother who he left behind on the beach before Oona ran.
Will has to learn how to communicate and work with Oona to survive his new life in the jungle. Will he live the rest of his life there with Oona? Or will he eventually return home? And what is left of home for Will?
Verdict: I enjoyed this book because the plot has lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed the descriptions of the jungle and the animals. I am a big fan of Micheal Morpurgo’s writing style.
The chapters where quite long and I would have liked it if they were shorter.
Summary: This book is about the survival of two sisters who fall off a passenger train that runs through the middle of a wild land. All they have with them is a rucksack, a bar of chocolate, a bottle of water, a mobile phone without signal and one another.
This story is about survival in the wild. Will the sisters ever make it home again?
Verdict: I found this book really difficult to put down. The story was really interesting from the moment I picked it up. I especially liked the part of the story where the sisters fall off the train and realise, they are all alone in the wild, with barely any belongings. I liked the fast pace of the book and the length of the chapters.
Reviewer Cathy Liddle loves to browse the shelves of Keighley Library.
Cathy reads both fiction and non-fiction. Over Christmas she has read “Bog Queen” the latest novel by Anna North, published this year.
Here are her thoughts.
Bog Queen by Anna North
It begins with the finding of a body, as thrillers generally do.
But, as a young American researcher attempts to establish the body’s identity and cause of death, the trail unexpectedly takes her deep into the distant past of Celtic Britain – and deep into the wondrous complexities of a northern peat bog today under threat.
“Bog Queen” so evidently incorporates the twin passions of its author Anna North, its themes alternating between an admirable reconstruction of Iron Age life and an impassioned reflection on the ecological damage now being wrought across our modern world.
This is an accessible and intriguing story, thought-provoking and worthy while remaining thoroughly readable. Yet it suffers a little by (ahem, sorry!) getting bogged down in too many side issues and peripheral characters, which reduces its impact. Anna North’s wide-ranging ambition for her book was perhaps too great.
Mother and son, Hera Azeem and Muhammad Affan Abbas put their heads together to write the following review of Squid Squad by Aoife Dooley.
Genre of book:
This book is humorous, adventurous and action packed colorful graphic novel
Summary :
Squid squad is based on four short sections. Start with introduction of deep sea town Nowhere and sea creatures. Ollie(vampire squid), Zing(sea bunny) and other distinctive sea creatures and their adventures life.
The second section leads us to Ollie and Zing’s surprises birthday party, planning for friend Barney and where was he?
The third part is based on Zing and Ollie’s exciting and hilarious way to search out strange noise which disturb the sleep of a whole town.
And the last section is about Ollie’s entrance to secret squid paradise through toilet and his friend’s struggle to find him and bring him back to town.
We like its vibrant colorful pictures along with funny, exciting and adventurous stories
Things which we don’t like are it’s dim and thin font size with some harder and strong language.
I hope you like our thoughts about book. Thank you!
About us
HERA Azeem, House wife
Muhammad Affan Abbas, 6 years old, Year 1
If you would like to read this over the holidays, here is the link – The squid squad
Following the response he received from the TV show Adolescence, Actor Stephen Graham would love your help in continuing the conversation between fathers and their sons. Together with psychology lecturer Orly Klein, they are calling on dads to write a letter to their sons about what matters most to them about fatherhood, being a man and the lessons you want to pass down to them. There’s no right or wrong way. Just your way.
