A welcome break from the routine yesterday, when I met up with fellow author Andrew Norriss and his wife for lunch. I’ve bumped into them over the years when, together with other fellow authors, we’ve battled various teams of students at Kids Lit quizzes – although our combined wisdom and knowledge has not always prevailed against Year 7/8 students! It was great to have the opportunity to share ideas and experiences as writers alongside good food. A previous winner of the Whitbread Award (now Costa), his latest book Jessica’s Ghost has had some lovely reviews, and I think it is his best yet. So, it was good to see it on the recently announced long list for the CILIP Carnegie Medal – and I certainly hope it makes it to the shortlist. Fingers crossed.