Collins Big Cat

Celebrating Travelling communities in “Parade of the Pipers”

7th Jun 2023

Richard O’Neill is a sixth generation master storyteller and author from the Romany tradition. He is the co-author of ‘Parade of the Pipers’ from the new collection of contemporary fairy tales from Collins Big Cat. Growing up, I developed a fondness for the story of the pied piper. Read More

Meet Nadine Cowan, author of the new Black history series from Big Cat

21st Nov 2022

I’m Nadine Cowan and I write and illustrate picture books with Black main protagonists to combat the low figures of Black children in children’s literature from diverse and underrepresented voices/creators.  Read More

Books Like Us

29th Sep 2022

I remember visiting the library in Doncaster when I was nine. One time, I spotted something surprising peeping out from a low shelf. ‘Johnny and the Bomb’ by Terry Pratchett. There it was – Johnny! My name! What stuck with me more than the story itself was the euphoria of… Read More

Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author

14th Feb 2021

A few years ago, when I became a published author, I was thrust into a world of writers, readers and of generally charming people who love books. And I mean LOVE books. I listened to their reminisces of devouring all kinds of books from an early age, of excited… Read More

Helping children with non-fiction writing

18th Jun 2020

Collins Big Cat author Emily Dodd shares ideas on how to get children excited about writing non-fiction. Although the ideas are aimed at teachers, they can easily be adapted for parents to support their children’s writing at home. Imagination and Memory When I’m starting children off on a… Read More

Helping children with writing fiction

18th Jun 2020

Collins Big Cat author Brandon Robshaw shares his own experiences of writing, plus tips on how to get children excited about writing fiction. Human beings are natural storytellers. Almost as soon as we can talk we find ourselves telling stories – little accounts or reports of things that have… Read More

Letters and Sounds and Challenging the More Able Child

18th Feb 2020

Teachers often get training on how to support struggling children. They spend time planning and creating resources to support those children. However, teacher training can sometimes miss showing teachers how to challenge the most able children, and challenge (particularly in phonics teaching) is regularly a focus of attention in Ofsted… Read More

Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2018: Seeds and Beginnings

3rd Dec 2018

Of all the questions I’m asked at school visits, the most common one (after ‘How much do you earn?’) is ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’. I think many readers assume they just pop into authors’ head fully formed as if by magic. Perhaps for some… Read More

Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2018: The Courage To Write

3rd Dec 2018

Fear of the blank page haunts every writer, young or old. Writing this blog began with a long period of staring at an empty white space until inspiration struck and I was brave enough to set down some words, that grew to a paragraph, until finally becoming… Read More

Collins Big Cat Writing Competition

7th Sep 2018

Entry for the 2018 competition is now closed, but you can now enter the Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2019! To read more about the winning stories for 2018 click here. Here at Collins we’re celebrating International Literacy Day by gearing up for our global… Read More