#187: Pari Thomson, editorial director for picture books, Bloomsbury, and children’s author

In this episode Rachel and Simon speak with Pari Thomson, editorial director for picture books at Bloomsbury and also a children's author. After an international childhood, Paris studied English at university; she began her career with stints at a literary agency, as a bookseller at Waterstones and as a manuscript reader. She joined Bloomsbury in 2016 and now commissions children's picture books. In 2023 Macmillan published her debut novel, "Greenwild: The World Behind the Door", a fantasy adventure inspired by the plants at Kew Gardens, near where Pari lives. Blackwell's named it their Children's Book of the Year and it also won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. The second book in the series, "Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea", was published this month. We spoke to Pari about breaking into the world of publishing, the taxonomy of children's literature, and the "Greenwild" novels.