2025-12-23 Lecture: Magpie: Looking for Story Seeds Around Us by British author Frances Hardinge to be held at the International Library of Children's Literature

The International Library of Children’s Literature (ILCL) will host a lecture entitled Magpie: Looking for Story Seeds Around Us by British author Frances Hardinge on Sunday, February 15, 2026.

Frances Hardinge is the author of The Lie Tree and has received numerous major literary awards in the UK for her young adult fantasy novels. In her lecture, she will talk about her process for finding small sparkles in everyday life, which—like a magpie drawn to shiny objects—she collects as ideas to be nurtured and transformed into stories.
Ms. Hardinge’s lecture will be preceded by Ms. Ritsuko Sambe, who has translated many works of children's literature from English and who will talk about the appeal of Hardinge's works.

*Hardinge’s lecture will be given in English with consecutive interpretation to Japanese.
*A video recording of this lecture will be posted on the National Diet Library’s YouTube channel at a later date.

Lecture: Magpie: Looking for Story Seeds Around Us by British author Frances Hardinge (in Japanese)