Children will speak directly to the audience for the first time at the Bookseller Children’s Conference at Soho Theatre this month.
Speakers from the children’s book trade and related industries will share fresh thinking and practical ideas for reaching new audiences and nurturing lifelong readers on November 9 with the theme ‘reaching, recruiting and retaining readers’.
The children speaking at the conference took part in a two-year research project with Karen Fox from St Mary’s University looking at whether children can see themselves in the books they read.
The children will give a short presentation about this research and will answer questions from the audience, giving their opinion and insight into what they need.
Harriet Carter, 12, said: “I’ve always enjoyed books and writing and literature in general, being able to help other children to have books catered to them is really important.
“Taking part in something like this makes you well rounded and you can make changes to the publishing industry.
“Not every child can get their voices heard and to get everyone’s voices heard is really important.”
Children’s reading for pleasure has faced a documented decline.
The National Literacy Trust reported a decline in reading for pleasure in 2025 and said that the percentage of children who enjoyed reading was at its lowest in 20 years.
This led to 2026 being the National Year of Reading – a UK-wide campaign by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust.
Caroline Carpenter, children’s editor and deputy features editor at the Bookseller and programmer of the Bookseller Children’s Conference, said: “I am delighted to give these students the platform to speak at the Bookseller’s Children’s Conference.
“It is the first time that we are offering our audience of book industry professionals the chance to hear directly from children at the event and it promises to be a really insightful and impactful part of the day.
“The theme of this year’s conference is centred around reaching children and encouraging them to become readers, so I am sure that our delegates will learn a lot from what they have to say.”
For more information and tickets go to the website.
Featured image credit: Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
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