Fidan Meikle is a multi-award-winning Azerbaijani-British writer, linguist and translator.

We talk with her about her debut middle-grade novel, My Name Is Samim, which is a powerful novel that follows Samim, a thirteen-year-old boy, as he flees war-torn Afghanistan for a new life in the UK. It highlights the experiences of young refugees and asylum-seekers, and has been a word of mouth success, winning the 2026 Jhalak Children's & YA Prize, the Federation of Children's Book Groups Award, several regional awards and included in the 2026 Read for Empathy Collection.

My Name Is Samim and its companion novel, My Name Is Zayn, are inspired by the real-life stories of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK.

We also celebrate Patrice Lawrence becoming the new Children's Laureate (Yay!) and the 10th anniversary of her YA book Orangeboy.

We talk about what we are reading over the summer and highlight both the Summer Reading Challenge and the Teacher's Reading Challenge.

And finally we invite you to share your recommendations - tag us in on social media or email us at info@mostlybooktalk.com.

Books we mentioned include:

Always Angel, by Kimberly Whittam

Soul Feeder, by Jennifer Killick, illustrated by Marina Vidal

Big Words by Luke Palmer

Gloam, by Jack McKay, illustrated by Ben Joel Price

Dangerous Influence, Sally Nichols (published Sept 2026)

The Sign of the Raven, by Pippa Dunn

The Shadows of Kensington Gore, by Ross Montgomery - adult (published Oct 2026)

All The Men We've Never Slept With, by Simon James Green and Sarah Counsell - adult (published July 2027)

Faith's First Case, by Jeffrey Boakye - adult (out Feb 2027)

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