Join Our After-School Programme With NTBC

One of the great things about reading is that there’s something out there for everyone! Our Book Club involves chatting through big-hitting book genres, swapping reading recommendations with young people and guest speakers, as well as top picks across different media, like films and series.

Join us live independently (or with a chaperone) half-termly at 5 pm on Thursdays via Google Classroom – there’s no required reading to join, but… be ready to bravely venture into Spine-Tingling Spooky Stories, embrace Heart-Warming Relationship-Focused Reads and delve into the worlds of Thought-Provoking, Imagination-Expanding Sci-Fi and Fantasy!

Heart-Warming Relationship-Focused Reads

Session 1 – Cynthia So, Thursday 6th February, 5 pm

Cynthia was born in Hong Kong and lives in London. They graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Classics in 2016. Their work has appeared in Uncanny, Strange Horizons and Cast of Wonders, among other places. They are also one of the new voices in PROUD, an anthology of LGBTQ+ YA stories, poems and art by LGBTQ+ creators, published by Stripes in March 2019. Cynthia’s debut book was If You Still Recognise Me.

Session 2 – Jenny Ireland, Thursday 20th March, 5 pm

Jenny is a Young Adult writer who lives outside Belfast with her husband, two children and border collie. She is a Law and French Law graduate and former paralegal. In 2019 she underwent emergency brain surgery. While this experience was relatively traumatic, the close encounter with death has given her the gift of seeing what truly matters in life. Writing books – and we’ll be discussing The Boy Next Door.

Thought-Provoking, Imagination-Expanding Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Session 1 – Ann Sei Lin, Thursday 15th May, 5 pm

We’ll be joined by our guest speaker Ann, who is the author of the YA fantasy-adventure trilogy, Rebel Skies. These stories are set in a world of flying ships, sky cities and powerful paper spirits inspired by Asian cultures, and they explore themes of empire, slavery and freedom.

Session 2 – Andy Darcy Theo, Thursday 12th June, 5 pm

Andy is a British-Greek Cypriot author with an educational and occupational background in clinical psychology and teaching. His book, The Light That Blinds Us, is the first in the YA fantasy series Descent Into Darkness. Andy is also a BookTokker and Bookstagrammer with millions of views and likes, which is nearly as big as his TBR pile.