The darling buds of Maytilda

The darling buds of Maytilda ‘Maytilda’ – a month of events and activity featuring Dahl’s plucky schoolgirl – will begin on 2 May with an event starring Miss Honey from the RSC’s acclaimed musical adaptation of Matilda. We are delighted to announce the first month of Children's Reading Fund activities with Waterstones who will be working with us for the next two years. One of the Fund’s aims is to help children in care have access to books, and it is this area that Waterstones will focus on, aiming to raise around £200K per annum. The partnership will launch with various activities featuring one of the Fund’s ambassadors, Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Read more about the Maytilda events Win signed copies of Matt Haig's Shadow Forest To celebrate Matt Haig's popular stint as online writer in residence for Booktrust, we have signed copies of his children's book Shadow Forest, to give away to two lucky readers. All you have to do is answer the simple question on our website before 10 June 2013, 5pm. Win signed copies of Matt Haig's books Children's Reading Fund For too many children, life seems mapped out with no hope of educational, social or economic improvement. We want to change the story... This year we've launched the Children's Reading Fund, which is all about improving the life chances for disadvantaged children in the UK. Specifically targeting children aged between 4 and 11, the new fund will use books and e-books, CDs, games and performance to inspire children to engage more with reading and writing and thus to change their own story. In 2013, with your help, we can use the power of stories and reading to unlock the potential of the UK's most disadvantaged children. The Fund is being supported by our celebrity ambassadors Cerrie Burnell, James Patterson, Gaby Roslin, Lemn Sissay, Dan Snow and Joanna Trollope, as well as a number of beloved children's characters including Matilda, Tracy Beaker and Zog. We would also like to thank our Founding Partners Waterstones and James Patterson in partnership with Random House. Read more about the Children's Reading Fund Books, books and more books! Head over to the books and reading section of our website where you'll find interviews with authors of books for adults, teenagers and children. There, you can also find our recommended books of the month for all age ranges and audiences. Recently, we've interviewed Mohsin Hamid, Deborah Levy, Julie Mayhew and Annabel Pitcher amongst others. We have a regular blog where you can keep up with what's going on around Booktrust. Our Chief Executive Viv Bird has a regular blog there too. We also have a bookfinder that lets you search for books by genre, keyword and age range. We believe there's a book for everyone, and it might be by your favourite author or someone you've not ever heard of yet. Whatever the case, we have the right section for book lovers of all ages, ranges and sizes. Get hunting! Visit our books and reading section Fundraising for the Children's Reading Fund The Children's Reading Fund has attracted businesses, corporates and people from all walks of life to get involved with raising money. We've had celebrated authors like Neil Gaiman get involved through Audible, we've had charity auctions and more. Here's a flavour of some of the fundraising activities going on around the Fund. Read more about the Children's Reading Fund   The long and the short of it Recently, we announced the shortlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, including books from Africa, Spain, The Netherlands, Argentina, Croatia and from Albania. The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is awarded annually to the best work of contemporary fiction in translation and is unique in that it awards both the writer and the translator equally. Read about the shortlist A brilliant and diverse shortlist drawn from across the book trade has been announced for the only national award recognising the professional achievements and promise of women publishers, the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize. The four talented women in the running for 2013 showcase the breadth of talent in the industry, with the shortlist featuring an agent, an editor, an entrepreneur and a bookseller. Read about the shortlist Also, we announced the winner of The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2013. Junot Diaz won £30,000 for his short story 'Miss Lora'. Watch an interview with him Also, find out about the winners of this year's Blue Peter Book Awards and the recipient of the biennial David Cohen Prize for Literature