2. Jacqueline Wilson

Roehampton Library

Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling in countless Woolworths exercise books with scribblings.

Today, with over 100 books to her name and over 40 million copies of them sold, Jacqueline has gone on to fire young imaginations like few others alive.

Her vivid creations - beloved characters such as Tracey Beaker and Hetty Feather - remain inspirations to children everywhere. She is a former Children’s Laureate and was appointed a Dame in 2008.

In this episode, Ben discusses with Jacqueline how she manages still to tap into that child’s-eye-worldview, as well as how the magical library of her own childhood led Jacqueline to pursue those dreams of writing…

For the episode, Jacqueline selected Roehampton Library as her chosen venue. The library is very dear to Jacqueline, not least as her close friend Stuart Wynn works there. Stuart joins Ben’s and Jacqueline’s conversation and his enthusiasm for the role of librarian is infectious. Indeed Stuart wanted to be a librarian from around the same tender age that Jacqueline decided she wanted to be a writer.