Meet the Judges: Madeleine Knowles

Meet the judges! We sat down with the wonderful Madeleine Knowles to chat all things books. Editor of the quarterly literary publication nb Magazine, which is distributed to over 15,000 loyal readers, she writes features, interviews authors, and curates content for nb’s print and online publications.

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What’s your favourite thing about the online reading community?

Definitely it’s friendliness – it’s like a warm haven from the murky world of the internet. I also love that it’s a place where people from all over the world can build connections and start conversations that might be hard to approach without having a book as a starting point. I think books often touch or move people because the ideas and themes covered resonate with our lives in some way, and it feels much easier to talk about those subjects and experiences if you have a book as a point of mutual connection.

What book first sparked your love for reading?

I absolutely loved picture books when I was really young – the Mouse and Mole series springs to mind – but I wasn’t reading them myself, so I’d probably say that the Jacqueline Wilson books were the first books I can really remember loving. I’d wait anxiously for each new book to be released and would go to the bookshop as soon as I could to get a copy.

What debut author should we be keeping our eyes on?

Colin Walsh, the author of Kala. It was one of the best debuts I’ve read recently and I am sure anything he writes next will be equally as brilliant.

What makes you feel inspired to write?

I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. I’m not really a writer, so I only write when I have a niggling feeling about an idea that I want to get down on paper, and then I usually think about it for months and months, often playing ideas through in my head, until I finally sit down and put pen to paper – or hands to keyboard.

If you could go for dinner with a character, who would you pick and why?

I’m not sure why this came to my mind, but I’d love to chat to Professor Snape. I remember being really intrigued by his character (I once dressed up as him for World Book Day and I remember my wand was my mum’s candle), and I’d just love to find out more about how he became so bitter and twisted. Or maybe I just wish I could have met Alan Rickman…

Do you have any reading rituals?

My absolute favourite thing to do on a Saturday or Sunday morning is to wake up, keep the blinds half shut so my bedroom feels like a cosy den, make a big pot of coffee, and read in bed for as long as I can get away with.

All-time-fave read

My all-time favourite read is absolutely any written by Deborah Levy – I think she is just incredible.

Current read

I’m currently reading Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux after hearing Bobby Palmer and Pandora Sykes talking about her on Book Chat podcast because I’ve only read a couple of her books and I absolutely loved them, so I’m trying to read more of her work.

Next on your TBR

Next on my list is Cleopatra and Frankenstein. I can’t lie, it was the cover that first attracted me to the book, but I’ve read so many great reviews and I’m looking forward to delving in.