One thing that really struck me yesterday was the sheer amount of female talent in the place – I was blown away by all that womanly writing and publishing. The line-ups on the stage for the Notable Book Awards: nearly all women. The Storylines organisation is run by strong and talented women … and look at One Tree House (my publisher): Christine and Jenny are dynamos, and have just picked up a major publishing award at the Bologna childrens book festival. I was very impressed by the sheer energy in the place yesterday. So fitting that we had the strong and positive Jacinda to speak to us and give the MM medal.

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens […] When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure that it gets here. In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new reader’s hands. In the shop, we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.”