Welcome to National Teen Book Club 24/25

National Teen Book Club (NTBC) believe everyone should have a chance to enjoy reading and grow in confidence as part of a welcoming peer community – so for 2024-25 we launched one new offer for school groups and one for individual learners.

We’ve had an exciting first term, featuring a Hollywood screenwriter, several award-nominated writers and an MBE, and for term two we’re bringing you even more new names and familiar faces from the thriving Young Adult genre! Read on for more information about our upcoming in-school sessions – and we’ll be sharing further details of our next after-school sessions here as well very soon. 

NTBC Session Information

We’ll be joined by five other authors in the weeks leading up to Candice’s finale session, each with a career story to share and a book to discuss. z

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 1 – Anam Iqbal, Wednesday 22^nd January 2025, 2.00-2.45pm  

Anam’s book The Exes follows 2 star-crossed lovers, and the obstacles they face. Anam is a debut author, and her writing is inspired by her experiences growing up as a British Pakistani Muslim woman in London. She holds an MSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford, where her thesis explored the identity of British South Asians in contemporary London. In her spare time, she’s swooning over romances on TikTok with her 40,000+ followers. 

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 2 – Benjamin Dean, Wednesday 29^th January, 2pm 

Benjamin is a full-time author with a background in celebrity journalism. He has interviewed a host of glitzy celebrities and is often tweeting about famous people, as well as LGBTQ+ culture. Benjamin’s middle-grade debut, Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow, was award-winning; and he’s since gone on to publish children’s book The Secret Sunshine Project, as well YA thrillers The King is Dead, How to Die Famous and This Story is a Lie, which is part of the World Book Day 2025 £1 books campaign. 

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 3 – Bali Rai, Wednesday 5^th February, 10am 

Bali is a leading voice in UK teen and children’s fiction, writing over fifty books since 2001, and winning multiple awards. Born in Leicester, his writing is inspired by his working-class, multicultural background. Bali has worked closely with The Reading Agency, BookTrust, The National Literacy Trust, Empathy Lab UK and many other organisations, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by De Montfort University in 2014. He also featured on BBC1’s Rebel Writers and is an ambassador/patron for several high-profile literacy and arts projects such as Listening Books and Reading Ahead. Bali’s book Rani and Sukh provides a modern take on the Romeo and Juliet story, exploring forbidden love and family feuds in Punjab, India and Leicester, UK. 

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 4 – Jeffrey Boakye, Wednesday 12^th March, 10am 

Jeffrey has expertise in issues surrounding race and, after teaching English in London and Yorkshire for 15 years, he now provides training for educational establishments on race, identity, masculinity and education. He is also Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Manchester’s Institute for Education; hosts BBC Radio 4’s Add to Playlist; publishes a very popular Substack newsletter; and has eight published books including Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials and the Meaning of Grime, Black Listed: Black British Culture Explored, and Musical Truth: A Musical Journey through Modern Black Britain. Jeffrey received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Leicester in January 2023. 

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 5 – Bea Fitzgerald, Wednesday 19^th March, 10am 

Bea is an author and content creator. She has worked in publishing for a number of years and has a degree in English Literature from the University of Reading, where she also studied several classes in Ancient History. Bea is passionate about stories and fascinated by the way they endure and resonate through centuries and generations. When she’s not writing, she’s entertaining her followers on TikTok and Instagram with her mythology-themed comedy account. Girl, Goddess, Queen was her debut novel. 

NTBC Cuts Both Ways Session 6 – Candice Brathwaite, Wednesday 26^th March 2025, 10am 

Candice’s debut book I Am Not Your Baby Mother – about being a black British mum – was published in 2020 by Quercus and made the Sunday Times Bestseller list. An author, journalist and TV presenter, her book Cuts Both Ways is an exploration of race, class, love and the complexities of growing up as a Black British teen. 

 
Please head to our website for further details about our hero reads and our NTBC FAQs.  

Additional Session Information

We’re very much looking forward to having you join us for upcoming sessions for schools via our private livestream page. A link will be shared with you each time. Please note, there must be a teacher in attendance with the group – please do not share the session link with your students.  If you have students who would like to join us by themselves after school, please direct them to NTBC After-School.  

A reminder to please read the blurb for each author’s book via the links below to gauge the suitability for your group and note any relevant trigger warnings. We will not be discussing book content in detail, but as our Q&As are directed by questions posed by our young people, it is possible that sensitive topics may be touched on. We also encourage you to read the hero read chapter samples, which we email to you when you register for one of the three cycles.  

You and your group will be able to pose questions on the day, or questions can also be pre-submitted via www.slido.com. You will be provided with the slido code ahead of each session via email.

Attendance

We would really appreciate you letting us know whether you intend to be attending the session live, or if you intend to participate via the recordings at a time of your own convenience. All our past NTBC talks – as well as many others! – can be accessed through our Broadcast Library. 

Registration form. Registration for all broadcasts ends at 12pm the day before.  

Discounted Books

You should have already received the book ordering details for our three hero reads via email. Let us know if you need this information again or require assistance.   

A reminder that purchasing copies is an optional cost for schools and colleges – we’ll be making light-touch links to our hero reads and the curriculum texts they connect with during every broadcast, but sessions will mainly focus on our speakers’ careers and books – so there’ll be lots to take away from our sessions either way!  

You also won’t want to miss… WORLD BOOK DAY! 

World Book Day with Karen M. McManus, Thursday 6th March 2025, 2pm 

Karen is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her work includes the One of Us Is Lying series, which was turned into a television show, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, Nothing More to Tell, and Such Charming Liars. Karen’s critically acclaimed, award-winning books have been translated into forty-two languages. Karen will be joining us for a 45 min Q&A, during which she’ll be answering your questions about her career to date and her books. 

We’re excited to be able to share so many wonderful books and diverse author perspectives with you this year.