Writers Joseph Coelho and Jason Reynolds on nurturing young readers

For just a few days this year, Joseph Coelho and Jason Reynolds were simultaneously serving as representatives for children's literature in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively.

But the similarities between the authors neither started nor ended with that.

They're both award-winning authors who didn't care for books as young children — but have obviously turned that around and have made it part of their mission to connect kids with diverse literature.

The Guardian got to sit in on a conversation with the two men, during the time their ambassadorial roles overlapped (Reynolds's term recently ended); head there to see what Coelho and Reynolds had to say about how their childhoods influenced their literary efforts today.

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