Dom!!! This means the world coming from you, thank you!!

This means the world coming from @domconlon.bsky.social!

Pictured: stack of comic books including The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings, Mexikid by Pedro Martín, Global by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano, Stargazing by Jen Wang, Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman, The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud, Donut Squad by Neill Cameron, Agent Moose by Mo O’Hara and Jess Bradley, InvestiGators by John Patrick Green, Juniper Mae by Sarah Soh and A Day in the Life of an Astronaut, Mars and the Distant Stars by Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley.

Random mini rant. STOP SAYING YOU WANT KIDS TO LOVE BOOKS AND THEN GATEKEEPING WHAT THEY READ! OR CALLING COMICS A “GATEWAY” INTO READING THE GOOD STUFF. Reading is reading. And a love of books (of all kinds) is an amazing and empowering thing. Besides, there’s some MASTERFUL storytelling out there.

Hmmmmmm!

Not trying to be provocative/critical here. Just genuinely asking the question. Was the whole National Year of Reading thing rushed into?

Seeing a lot of chat about the term “reading for pleasure” (with lots of critics) and I’m on a deadline and can’t get into it but it does make me wonder why we didn’t have all these discussions BEFORE the start of the National Year of Reading.

A two panel comic of Loki from A Bad God's Guide to Being Good. In the first panel he's looking breezy and innocent and holding up a book. He's saying, "I think it's great that children read prose novels." In the second panel, he's looking more mischievous and saying, "It's a perfectly GATEWAY to comics."

Let's kill "comics are a gateway to reading" dead please?

SJ Wills’s Bite Risk! Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones!! Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin. Inkbound by Philippa Leathley. Sue Lynn Tan’s epic fantasy romances. Danielle Jawando’s YA books. So many. #kidlituk #kidsbooksfriday

Have the best time!! xx

ALT text: doodles with the words World Book Day, read what you love!, read in any format you want, comics = reading, and a robot doodle saying I love sci fi

Happy World Book Day! Celebrating with a fun little doodle from Anaya (age 10). The message: read whatever you love in whatever format you want! 📖 🎧 ✨ 🎉 It’s ALL reading. #kidlit #worldbookday

Yes! Every week! So proud to have been a part of this.

👀

We’re really excited about our latest AI model that can parent your children, make love to your wife and experience all of human joy for you, while you just stare at your phone or something. Isn’t that better than living your life?

Yes! I used to push and overdo it (scrambling to find the answers for someone when I have no energy for it) but now I am older and wiser and say sorry today I just can’t so I’ll ask for help instead. GROWTH.

I’ve been hoping Maisie Chan would do an Author’s Live for ages. So excited for this!

Open to all schools in the UK. Get your classes registered folks. It’s going to be another brilliant one.

#KidLitUK #UKKidLit #EduSky

Deep in deadlines so of course books have all fallen out of my brain. I’ve reposted and asked for you!

Children’s book people - any suggestions for stories with great friendships (with Stargazing vibes)? #kidlit #childrensbooks

How a New Yorker Put Poetry on the London Underground

Another lovely feature for #poemsontheunderground
40th anniversary
If there’s a poem you loved, you can buy the poster from @poetrysociety.org.uk
here:

poetrysociety.org.uk/projects/poe...

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/b...
#poetrysky #ukpoets

So much chat about business rates for pubs. So little chat about business rates for independent bookshops who do so much for their local communities.

If any tech people do happen to have the ears of billionaires, I am here with my wallet open saying I would pay EXTRA for devices and software that don't have AI in them. Please take my money.

Author Rashmi Sirdeshpande and illustrator Diane Ewen

Photo of the cover of Never Show a T-Rex a Book

First spread of Never Show a T-Rex a Book

Jumping on this trend with a little twist:

🌟 the author and illustrator ✍️ 🎨
🌟 front cover 👀 📖
🌟 first page 🦖

Never Show a T-Rex a Book by Diane Ewen and me - it’s all about falling in love with ALL KINDS of books, following your interests and going all in. VERY National Year of Reading. 👀

Extraordinary.

My #GoodNewsFriday is we finally have a website for the charity! libraries-kids. It’s in the title #KidsNeedLibraries raising money to provide book grants 📚 so schools can spend on what their kids would love to have. Thx to Thinktech systems for the site!

Those two recent ones were Nakul P (nakulp dot art on IG) and Mamta Singh (artistmamtasingh on IG). Mamta actually wasn’t even in the children’s book space. She’s a muralist in India but she said yes to illustrating a series and she’s amazing.

IG and, surprisingly, LinkedIn. I get most engagement on IG but constantly finding a good visual is tricky. I miss text-based social media. Authors I know seem to love it here on Bluesky but I don’t really know what I’m doing.

Yes, it still happens. Two of the debut illustrators I’ve been paired with were discovered on IG a year ago and 2 years ago.

Jumping in here but I’ve now worked with four (brilliant!) debut illustrators that Puffin and HarperCollins found on Instagram.

More fantastic whole school picture book picks: The Artist by Ed Vere, Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence and Camilla Sucre, To The Other Side by Erika Meza, The Spots and the Dots by Helen Baugh and Marion Deuchars. #KidsBooksFriday #kidlituk

My picture book with Diane Ewen, Never Show a T-Rex a Book, is a joyous love letter to libraries, reading and ambition and is often used in whole school assemblies. More recs below! #Kidsbooksfriday #kidlituk

Hey Fellow Youth #Library folk Pen & Inc is a great read! Be sure to take look! 📚📜