Welcome to The Deep Read, where you’ll find news, reviews and other such shenanigans from the Mr B’s Team. This month, there’s a Q&A with author Mark Bowles, Becky has been to the Carnegies, and Giuseppe reviews some Italian literature…
A Q&A with Mark Bowles
We are delighted that author Mark Bowles has answered some of our silly and less-silly bookish questions. Mark’s debut novel, All My Precious Madness, was a bestseller at Mr B’s after our former bookseller Tom Burgess selected it as his book of the year in 2024. Now Mark is back with How Do People Stay the Same, the witty and tender story of one man’s life through diary entries moving backwards in time…
You are on a long train journey but can only take one book. Which of your existing book collection would you choose to take to re-read?
I’ve long wanted to reread Beckett’s great post-war trilogy. I read it a long time ago, on the recommendation of a sixth form teacher. It was a revelation back then, and I’m curious to see what flickers of that revelation remain.
What’s your favourite place/song/film?
Rome/ Amsterdam by Jacques Brel/ Solaris (Tarkovsky)
Where do you do most of your reading?
At my desk
What is on your “to be read” pile currently?
My Phantoms, Gwendoline Riley
What would your Mastermind subject be?
Hmm. Yeats. But I generally don’t know a lot about anything.
When you visit a bookshop, which section do you go to first?
Fiction. Then philosophy.
What three words on a book blurb would make you want to pick it up?
Virtuosic, intense, relentless.
What did you do before you became an author?
All kinds of jobs, some of which I’m still doing. Bookshop worker, salesperson, tutor..
The ultimate dinner party – who would your top three guests be? (real or fictional!)
Gilles Deleuze, Emily Bronte, Béla Bartók.
How Do People Stay the Same is out next week – order here!
Becky at the Carnegies
Being invited to the Carnegie Awards 2026 was an incredible honour. To be in a room filled with some of the most talented writers, illustrators, librarians and publishers, all gathered to celebrate outstanding children’s books, was an experience I’ll cherish.
What made the evening even more special, though, was sharing it with so many young readers. Seeing the children who had taken part in voting for the Shadowers’ Choice Awards brought the entire event to life. Their excitement was infectious. The theatre buzzed with energy, conversations and anticipation, reminding everyone in the room why children’s literature matters so much.
Watching those young readers celebrate the books they had championed was genuinely heartwarming. Their enthusiasm, curiosity and passion for stories made it clear that the future of reading is in very good hands.
A huge congratulations to Aimée de Jongh, whose breathtaking adaptation of Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel won the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Illustration. It’s a stunning visual interpretation of William Golding’s classic, and it’s easy to see why it resonated so strongly with young readers.
Congratulations also to Kate Rolfe, winner of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration for Wiggling Words. This beautiful and deeply personal picture book offers a powerful insight into dyslexia and neurodivergence showing that struggling with words should never stand in the way of discovering a lifelong love of reading.
And finally, an enormous congratulations to Beth O’Brien, whose remarkable novel Wolf Siren won both the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing. A rich and compelling reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood, Wolf Siren weaves together visual impairment, feminism and folklore into an unforgettable story with extraordinary characters. Winning both awards is a testament to just how deserving this book is.
It was an absolute privilege to be there and to celebrate incredible books, the people who create them, and, perhaps most importantly, the young readers whose voices and enthusiasm continue to shape the future of children’s literature. Here’s to the power of stories, and to the children who remind us why they so matter.
by Becky Cann
Guiseppe Reviews…
You may have spotted a new face around the shop at Mr B’s over the past couple of weeks – our new bookseller Giuseppe! Here he reviews The Anniversary by Andrea Bajani, recently published by Penguin Classics, in a translation by Geoffrey Brock.
Guiseppe says: “Some books tell a story; others uncover a wound. The Anniversary by Andrea Bajani belongs to the latter. It never raises its voice, instead, it lets silence and memory do the speaking.
“The novel unfolds as an interior monologue, returning to a childhood shaped by fear: a violent father, a silent mother, and a home where love struggled to breathe. Through memory and therapy, the narrator slowly untangles the inheritance of trauma, discovering that the greatest act of courage is not remembering, but finding the strength to walk away.
“A quiet, deeply humane novel that lingers long after the final page. Bajani’s novel won Italy’s prestigious Strega Prize in 2025.”
Live Poetry Book Club
Our friends at Emblaze are hosting a Live Poetry Book Club at BRLSI later this month. Details below…
“An evening poetry book club celebrating storytellers of colour, with live performances & free books!
Welcome to The Live Poetry Book Club, an evening summer book club exploring and celebrating live readings and performances from writers and artists of colour.
For those who love nothing more than reading a good book (ones that move us and inspire us and allow us to see the world differently) and for those who adore listening to a writer bring their work into being through performance, at each of these unique events we will listen to a musician perform, to the poet read their work in person, and then take their collections home to enjoy afterwards.”
