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RLF Writers’ News: June 2026

Publishing

Rebecca Colby’s new picture book Hush, Little Fire Truck, is part of a series saying good night to helper vehicles as they complete their missions.

Set to the tune of the song “Hush, Little Baby,” this bedtime board book shows little readers how each emergency vehicle completes its final task of the day and then rumbles off to sleep.

Illustrated by Chiara Galletti, it is published by Simon & Schuster on 4 June.

WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant‘s new book, What We Leave We Carry: Voices of Migration to Britain, is published by Jonathan Cape on 4 June.

Featuring the stories of people who have come to Britain to make a new life – a Czech-Roma lawyer in Reading, an Iranian taxi driver in Shropshire, a Sierra Leonean actor in Northampton, a Romanian police officer in Edinburgh – the book is inspired by the WritersMosaic podcast of the same name, which you can find out more about here.

Colin Grant was recently joined at Hay Festival to discuss the book with three people whose stories feature: Irish writer Suzanne Harrington (The Liberty Tree), Cameroonian poet Eric Ngalle Charles (Homelands) and Amanda Vilanova, an actor and writer from Puerto Rico.

Maisie Chan’s new book Chi Chi The Panda tells the incredible illustrated true story of history’s most beloved and famous panda.

After being taken from Baoxing, in China, Chi Chi lived in lots of different zoos around the world, loved by everyone who came to visit her. She was introduced to a male panda called An An, became mixed up in arguments between other countries and even became the star attraction at London Zoo and the most famous animal in England.

Maisie’s debut picture book is illustrated by Jo Lindley and published by Hachette on 4 June.

Martina Evans’ new collection Drunken Driving is the subversive sequel to her narrative poem, The Coming Thing.

Ten years on, Imelda, now a young mother, is married to Carl. When she gets a job in the X-ray Department at Pentonville Prison and learns to drive, her previous preoccupations with life and death and abuse of power are intensified. With sonnets ‘cuffed’ by quotes from Dracula and prison security rules, this timely collection delivers dark comedy as it raises serious questions about human society during the present international prison crisis, with the UK prison system on the verge of collapse.

A Poetry Book Society Summer Choice for 2026, Drunken Driving is published by Carcanet on 25 June.

Martina Evans will be in conversation with RLF Fellow Ella Frears for the launch of Drunken Driving at Burley Fisher Books in London on Tuesday 9 June. Tickets are available here. The Carcanet will also host an online launch of Drunken Driving on Tuesday 23 June, featuring readings, discussion and an audience Q&A. Tickets here.

Broadcasts

Joe Dunthorne’s new radio play, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, is adapted from the short stories of RLF beneficiary Dylan Thomas, and set in Swansea where they were both born.

Starring Gerran Howell as Dylan Thomas, the play follows Thomas on his return to Swansea after the blitz. From summers at Fern Hill to failed camping trips on the beach; from plagiarised poetry to drunken first love, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog is a story of what it is to grow up.

Listen on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 7 June, or via BBC Sounds.

Productions

Lisa Parry and Judith Johnson are among playwrights taking part in ALL THE RAGE: A theatrical response to the Epstein Files.

The two-part multi-layered theatrical event spans 15 spaces and is an urgent collective response to the release of the Epstein Files, created by more than seventy female-identifying and non-binary playwrights and artists. The event combines durational installations, performances and scenes, coming together into a single, shared theatrical moment.

Conceived by Rebecca Lenkiewicz via a playwriting WhatsApp group when the files were first released, it is directed by Lucy Morrison and takes place at London’s Theatre Deli from 9 – 11 June. More information here.

Collected: Live 

This month’s Collected: Live panel events include:

Writing and the City: A Creative Writing Panel at Exeter Library on Thursday 4 June.

Writers Rebecca Tantony, Babs Horton and Edson Burton will read short original pieces in response to the theme, followed by a discussion. The event is one in a series of public events across the South West to foster engagement with writing and contemporary authors. Tickets here.

Letter To My Younger Self: A Live Creative Writing Panel at St Agnes Miners & Mechanics’ Institute in St Agnes, Cornwall on Wednesday 10 June.

Rebecca Tantony, Peter Oswald and Roz Watkins will read a short piece in response to the theme, followed by a chaired discussion on craft, identity, and the evolving writer’s voice. Tickets here.

A Healing Art: Northern Poets in Conversation at the Poetry Pharmacy, York on Friday 19 June.

Tahmina Ali, Bob Beagrie and Harry Man will discuss whether poems can heal, what makes poems memorable, and whether they can change the direction of our lives, drawing on the words of some of the country’s leading poets as a springboard for their discussion. Tickets here.

Events and appearances 

Ishy Din, Carina Rodney and Harry Man are taking part in The Write Stuff: Can Literature Change Your Life? at Ormesby Library, Middlesbrough as part of the Crossing the Tees Festival on 25 June.

Whether it’s a new exercise class, a dream job, or a diet promising unbelievable results, we are always looking to change our lives for the better. But what if literature holds the answer? Our writers go in search of answers, drawing on readings from other Royal Literary Fund writers to ask how and why literature can make a difference in our lives.

Tickets and more information here.

Tishani Doshi, Tahmima Anam, Vaseem Khan, Abir Mukherjee, Namita Gokhale and Sara Wheeler will be taking part in the Jaipur Literature Festival London at the British Library from 5 – 7 June.

The 13th London edition of the JLF will embody the multi-faceted spirit of the mother Jaipur Literature Festival, with its unique celebration of books and ideas, inclusiveness and sense of community.

For more details and to see the full programme, visit the JLF website.

Doug Johnstone will be at Borders Book Festival celebrating a combined 50 Years of Thrilling Fiction, with his Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers bandmate and fellow writer Chris Brookmyre in a special joint anniversary event.

Doug will be celebrating two decades in print, with works including reissue of his cult classic The Ossians, while Chris Brookmyre celebrates thirty years of his Jack Parlabane crime fiction series.

The event takes place on Saturday 13 June. Ticket information is here.

Awards

Miranda Moore has been shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize from the Society of Authors for her novel A Beautiful, Terrible Thing (David Fickling Books).

Sponsored by Hawthornden Foundation, the McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel, published or unpublished, by a writer over 40 with the winner receiving £4,000, runner-up £2,000, and each shortlisted author receiving £1,000.

The winners will be announced at the Society of Authors Awards at Southwark Cathedral on Thursday 18 June. More information here.

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