Good to hear Allan Ahlberg (he of Funny Bones and The Jolly Postman, among others) on Radio 4’s Open Book, a few minutes ago. Encouraging to hear that that this hero’s approach to writing is similar to mine: I absolutely get the idea of the story growing organically out of a few choice words that catch the imagination. I liked his knitting analogy too. But I have to protest at the idea that children’s books are not as important as grown-ups’! I’m with Mariella on that one!

Open Book.