Ever since the advent of JK Rowling and the moneypots of magic that is her boy wizard, the world of children's publishing has been prone to fits of over-excitement and hyperbole.
However, earlier this year, two new names appeared on the scene who do genuinely seem to justify the hype surrounding them.
Julia Golding, is a former UN diplomat turned writer whose January debut, The Diamond of Drury Lane, has already won the Ottaker's Children's book prize. It's a riproaring historical adventure set in Georgian times and introduces a feisty and independent girl-hero, Cat Royal. Clearly no slouch, Golding's second novel, The Secret of the Sirens, was published in March and is the first in a contemporary fantasy series.
Matthew Skelton also published his first novel last month, though it was causing ripples even at the manuscript stage when it was subject to a fierce bidding war and optioned to Warner Bros. An historical fantasy, it is set in present-day Oxford and medieval Germany at the dawn of the age of printing.
Both authors live in Oxford so I headed down there to chat to Julia and Matthew and find out what they had to say about children's literature, getting published and the shadow cast by Phillip Pullman over every Oxford-dwelling children's author.
Click here to listen to the discussion on your computer (MP3; 31), or paste http://blogs.theguardian.com/culturevulture/podcast.xml into the Podcasts bit of iTunes or your RSS reader, to subscribe to the Culture Vulture feed and receive all the Vulture's podcasts as they become available.
