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Rashmi Sirdeshpande

@rashmiwriting.bsky.social
1.4K followers 912 following 1.2K posts

Neurodivergent (AuDHD). Learner. Dreamer. Award-winning children's author. Musings on books, writing, creativity and ND life. Agent: Lydia Silver linktr.ee/rashmiwriting

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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Love that every Y6/P6 child will be given a free book (new NLT/royal National Year of Reading initiative - not commenting on the royal piece) but I think they missed a trick by not having a range of books kids can choose from. Or if they had to give one book, I think it should have been a comic.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Thrilled to be an official Author Ambassador for The Reading Agency’s Teachers’ Reading Challenge, a lovely project to help teachers, TAs and librarians discover and share brilliant books. Sign up now at teachersreadingchallenge.org.uk
Photo of author Rashmi Sirdeshpande with logo saying Teachers’ Reading Challenge and a quote about her being an author ambassador Graphic with text Teachers’ Reading Challenge: Empower your teaching through reading
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar by Mamta Singh and me has been shortlisted for the Tower Hamlets Book Award! In INCREDIBLE company! Look at these books!! 🎉
Graphic showing the Tower Hamlets Book Award 2026 shortlist: Fia and the last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher
Gloam by Jack Mackay
Nate Yu’s Blast From the Past  by Maisie Chan
Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
The Night I borrowed Time by Iqbal Hussain
Man-Man and The Tree of Memories by Yaba Badoe
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
This means the world coming from @domconlon.bsky.social!
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Random mini rant. STOP SAYING YOU WANT KIDS TO LOVE BOOKS AND THEN GATEKEEPING WHAT THEY READ! OR CALLING COMICS A “GATEWAY” INTO READING THE GOOD STUFF. Reading is reading. And a love of books (of all kinds) is an amazing and empowering thing. Besides, there’s some MASTERFUL storytelling out there.
Pictured: stack of comic books including The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings, Mexikid by Pedro Martín, Global by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano, Stargazing by Jen Wang, Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman, The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud, Donut Squad by Neill Cameron, Agent Moose by Mo O’Hara and Jess Bradley, InvestiGators by John Patrick Green, Juniper Mae by Sarah Soh and A Day in the Life of an Astronaut, Mars and the Distant Stars by Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Seeing a lot of chat about the term “reading for pleasure” (with lots of critics) and I’m on a deadline and can’t get into it but it does make me wonder why we didn’t have all these discussions BEFORE the start of the National Year of Reading.
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Let's kill "comics are a gateway to reading" dead please?
A two panel comic of Loki from A Bad God's Guide to Being Good. In the first panel he's looking breezy and innocent and holding up a book. He's saying, "I think it's great that children read prose novels." In the second panel, he's looking more mischievous and saying, "It's a perfectly GATEWAY to comics."
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
SJ Wills’s Bite Risk! Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones!! Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin. Inkbound by Philippa Leathley. Sue Lynn Tan’s epic fantasy romances. Danielle Jawando’s YA books. So many. #kidlituk #kidsbooksfriday
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Happy World Book Day! Celebrating with a fun little doodle from Anaya (age 10). The message: read whatever you love in whatever format you want! 📖 🎧 ✨ 🎉 It’s ALL reading. #kidlit #worldbookday
ALT text: doodles with the words World Book Day, read what you love!, read in any format you want, comics = reading, and a robot doodle saying I love sci fi
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Yes! Every week! So proud to have been a part of this.
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Ned Hartley @nedhartley.com · 24/02/2026
We’re really excited about our latest AI model that can parent your children, make love to your wife and experience all of human joy for you, while you just stare at your phone or something. Isn’t that better than living your life?
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Marianne Doherty @mariannedoherty.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
I’ve been hoping Maisie Chan would do an Author’s Live for ages. So excited for this! Open to all schools in the UK. Get your classes registered folks. It’s going to be another brilliant one. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #EduSky
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Children’s book people - any suggestions for stories with great friendships (with Stargazing vibes)? #kidlit #childrensbooks
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Gita Ralleigh @gitaralleigh.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Another lovely feature for #poemsontheunderground 40th anniversary If there’s a poem you loved, you can buy the poster from @poetrysociety.org.uk here: poetrysociety.org.uk/projects/poe... www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/b... #poetrysky #ukpoets
nytimes.com
How a New Yorker Put Poetry on the London Underground
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
So much chat about business rates for pubs. So little chat about business rates for independent bookshops who do so much for their local communities.
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
If any tech people do happen to have the ears of billionaires, I am here with my wallet open saying I would pay EXTRA for devices and software that don't have AI in them. Please take my money.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Jumping on this trend with a little twist: 🌟 the author and illustrator ✍️ 🎨 🌟 front cover 👀 📖 🌟 first page 🦖 Never Show a T-Rex a Book by Diane Ewen and me - it’s all about falling in love with ALL KINDS of books, following your interests and going all in. VERY National Year of Reading. 👀
Author Rashmi Sirdeshpande and illustrator Diane EwenPhoto of the cover of Never Show a T-Rex a BookFirst spread of Never Show a T-Rex a Book
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ToBeBooks @tobebooks.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
My #GoodNewsFriday is we finally have a website for the charity! libraries-kids. It’s in the title #KidsNeedLibraries raising money to provide book grants 📚 so schools can spend on what their kids would love to have. Thx to Thinktech systems for the site!
libraries-kids.lovable.app
Kids Need Libraries | Libraries Change Lives
We're on a mission to ensure every child in the UK has access to books. 1 in 4 schools don't have a library.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
My picture book with Diane Ewen, Never Show a T-Rex a Book, is a joyous love letter to libraries, reading and ambition and is often used in whole school assemblies. More recs below! #Kidsbooksfriday #kidlituk
Photo of picture book Never Show a T-Rex a Book
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Matt @mattlibrarian.eurosky.social · 19/02/2026
Hey Fellow Youth #Library folk Pen & Inc is a great read! Be sure to take look! 📚📜
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Continuing my list of children’s reading recommendations for the National Year of Reading. This time, we’re zooming in on comics. Just a few faves here and most are series. Titles and creators in the ALT text. #kidlit #kidscomics
Photo of author Rashmi Sirdeshpande behind a stack of comics: 

The Investigators by John Patrick Green
Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman 
Dadbot by Jack Noel 
Happy Hills by Sophy Henn
Agent Moose by Mo O’Hara and Jess Bradley 
Donut Squad by Neill Cameron 
Mexikid by Pedro Martín
Stargazing by Jen Wang
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Little Rebels Award @littlerebsprize.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
📣Little Rebels Award Folk! An Announcement: Award organisers @letterboxlibrary.bsky.social & @housmansbookshop.bsky.social are pausing the Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction this year. Full announcement below. #KidLitUK
Visual assets sharing announcement on social media. 

Text against a cream background. At bottom are 3 partial balloon shapes in red, orange & blue with the Little Rebels Award logo in bottom right corner. 

Text reads:

An Announcement

The Little Rebels Award will be taking a pause in 2026.

We have been proudly celebrating radical fiction for children since 2013, and in that time we've seen the prize grow and grow. Such is its success that the work the prize generates now exceeds the capacity of the small team running it. 

Like so many endeavours in the book world, the award runs mostly on love, enthusiasm and unpaid labour, and we've temporarily reached a point where the workload is unsustainable. We are incredibly grateful for the funding we receive from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, which goes to the prize money, promotional materials and the ceremony, but we have no funding beyond this, and our hope this year is to find additional funding opportunities to help us pay for administrative support. We would welcome any ideas or suggestions in this respect!✊🏿 Text continued on to next image (same design): 

We will continue to run our social media accounts throughout 2026, and we will be highlighting children’s titles published in 2025 which might otherwise have been amplified by a longlist - so do continue to follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to stay up to date.

This was a really difficult decision, but we hope this pause will allow us to regroup and come back with a bang in 2027.

Thank you to all our friends and followers for supporting the prize all these years and helping us to celebrate socially and politically engaged storytelling for children! We will see you soon.

- The Little Rebels Team x
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Turns out kids are ALREADY asking for Hari Book 2. Last week, one heard me mention it and the news rippled down the signing queue! So here it is: HARI KUMAR, ULTIMATE SUPERSTAR - GOING FOR GOLD. Out 13th August. Art by Mamta Singh, design by Elorine Grant and Kate Clarke. 🎉🌟
Cover of Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar Going for Gold
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BookwormVaught - Dr Anna Vaught @bookwormvaught.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I would like to express something in no uncertain terms about the publishing industry re availability and I would really like this carved in stone. Carers and chronically ill writers are structurally disadvantaged in prestige economies. This is brutal and rarely said out loud. I need more support
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
An excellent series for anyone interested in how we get children reading for pleasure. I have lots to catch up on but I had to give it a boost! #kidlituk #ukkidlit
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Gita Ralleigh @gitaralleigh.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Super thrilled to speak at the @ylglondon.bsky.social Unconference for the National Year of Reading! Like so many writers, the local library was my happy place, a refuge from life’s travails & a second home. Here I am in the wonderful school library at Queensbridge School in Brum!
Middle aged brown female writer in school library
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I met young readers today in the signing queue who actually know and love my books. And readers who were excited to talk about their ADHD brains and writing. What is this life? Seriously. Blown away that I get to call this my job.
Posters celebrating the Waterstones Book Festival, National Year of Reading, local libraries and the National Literacy Trust Caird HallCopy of the book Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar help up in front of the Dundee rail station sign
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
As a long-term supporter of EmpathyLab’s work to raise an empathy-educated generation through books and reading, I’m super proud to be an official EmpathyLab ambassador. Here’s to giving time and energy to things that make a difference. #kidlituk #ukkidlit @empathylabuk.bsky.social
Graphic featuring Rashmi Sirdeshpande and a note to say Proud to be an EmpathyLab ambassadorPhoto collage of 9 empathylab ambassadors
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Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
If any of you is looking for someone to write about / explain science to children, including fact-checking, I am looking for work. You can see why I’d be a good hire here at alomshaha.com
alomshaha.com
Alom Shaha
Science teacher, writer, film-maker
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BookTrust @booktrust.org.uk · 03/02/2026
💡Did you know? Order #Bookspark for your school and you'll get 40 books plus resources to support impactful shared reading sessions. But that's not all - you'll also get access to an exclusive live event with super author Jennifer Killick! Find out more about Bookspark 👇 bit.ly/3ZwNE6V
A photo of Jennifer Killick holding up some of her books plus the words: "Jennifer Killick - exclusive live online author event for Bookspark schools - sign up today"
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Honoured to be featured in DESIblitz talking about Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar, joyful representation and whose stories are considered “universal” in children’s books. Love this thoughtful and celebratory piece by Dhiren Manga. #kidlituk #uklkidlit www.desiblitz.com/content/rash...
Screenshot of the article Rashmi Sirdeshpande talks Hari Kumar, Neurodiversity and Identity
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Jordan Collver @jordancollver.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Only TEN more days until "Pets Tell Tales: Ancient Rome" will be on shelves in bookstores! You can also order it now: tinyurl.com/PetsRome A kids' comic by @rikworth.bsky.social & me that tackles some of the big topics of the ancient world of humans, from the perspective of animals.
Colourful cover for the comic Pets Tell Tales: Ancient Rome featuring various cartoon animals smashing through a line of Roman soldiers. A wolf and a dog growl at each other in the foreground.Cartoon illustration of a rooster riding on the back of a white goat who is knocking off the head of a large marble statue.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Proud to support Bookshop.org’s Read it Forward campaign. 10% of ALL children’s book sales in February go to BookTrust/Scottish Book Trust AND you get to support indie bookshops at the same time. I’ve got a whole list of book recommendations for you if you’re not sure where to start. (Link below!)
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
This is amazing!
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Some beautiful reads here but I think it’s also important to have books like The Cheat Book by Ramzee in the mix. Because kids who were refugees can star in fun stories too. It matters. #KidLitUK #KidsBooksFriday
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Authors Abroad @authorsabroad.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
We've had a couple of days off recommending books to give you a chance to catch up with reading them! Today we're looking at #poetry books and we might be a tad biased because these are all by some of the brilliant poets we work with. #NationalYearofReading #GoAllIn
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Important reading. Love the work Lit in Colour is doing in this space. Everyone should know about it.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Keep forgetting this place exists. Still getting used to how fragmented my social media world has become. I should really quit one of my spaces and it’s either Bluesky or Threads. 🤔
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Very excited to read this one! Love Ian’s books.
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Prof Sunny Singh @profsunnysingh.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Watching Refaat was a reminder of why I do what I do. Teaching storytelling is powerful, sacred act. And a great responsibility. A duty that must be fulfilled with courage, humility and care
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Prof Sunny Singh @profsunnysingh.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I taught Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (edited Jehad Abusalim et al, 2022) yesterday. The supplementary texts included this TED talk by Refaat Alareer thanks to which my students have discovered his lecture videos. Looking forward to their essays youtu.be/YsbEjldJjOw?...
youtu.be
Stories make us | Refaat Alareer | TEDxShujaiya
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
📢 ⬇️ 📖 This incredible prize is in its 10th year and it’s currently open to submissions. Look!
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Dom Conlon @domconlon.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
It often does. What would you add?
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
That is some very good news but YES, we can do better. Take a look and contribute/amplify if you can! #Creatives4Sudan
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Marianne Doherty @mariannedoherty.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
I’ve just bought my mum Sarah Crossan’s brilliant YA ‘Where the Heart Should Be’ for her Christmas. What other great kids / YA books should we be gifting to grown-ups who don’t generally read children’s books? #KidsBooksFriday #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #KidLit
Book cover for Where The Heart Should Be by Sarah CrossanBook cover for The Arrival by Shaun TanBook cover for The Murderer’s Ape by Jakob WegeliusBook cover for DK’s Knowledge Encyclopaedia
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gabliotecaria @gabliotecaria.northsky.social · 04/12/2025
£12K!!!!! 🤗🤗🤗 There are lots of little lots that would make brilliant treats, go on! Also remember there are US-located lots, so if you're a pal from there you can grab 'em for a steal! (I really wanted the hair appointments 😂)
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Do Bluesky handles really have to be this long? I don’t like it.
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Rashmi Sirdeshpande @rashmiwriting.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Fellow authors juggling way too many social media platforms - how are you doing this? Every time I think I’ll drop one there’s an interesting convo or something there or something nice happens and I decide to stay. 🤯
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EmpathyLabUK @empathylabuk.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
🎄 Brilliant gift ideas for all ages. Unplug, connect with family or friends, and jump into someone else’s story this festive season! 🎄 Visit Bookshop.org today and discover the full list
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Bruna De Luca @brunadeluca.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
There’s definitely luck in publishing, so do what you can to meet it halfway–join a crit group, take courses, enter comps, read lots, try writing for different age groups. Livia actually started as a middle grade but I was able to revise and resubmit after chat with editor. #ukteenchat #liviainrome
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