Julia Donaldson: A life in language

Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo and many other beloved children's books, tells Michael Rosen about her own writing, reading, speaking and listening. Her childhood experiences were a big influence, as was busking in Paris and writing songs which ended up on Play School and Play Away. One of the songs became her first book, A Squash and a Squeeze. They also talk about Julia's new book, Paper Chase, illustrated by Victoria Sandøy. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea, in partnership with the Open University.

You can listen to Julia Donaldson: A life in language online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Julia Donaldson: A life in language is an episode from Word of Mouth by BBC.

This episode is 33:38 long.

This episode was published on Oct 2, 2025.

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