Reading: A Pillar of Early Childhood Development

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the UK Children's Laureate, is Today's first guest editor this Christmas.

His programme focuses on whether we should rethink our approach to reading - and make reading to young children a public health priority.

And he gets the chance to interview none other than Dolly Parton - about why she's turned to writing children's books.

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Between now and the end of the year we're bringing you extended interviews with the Today programme's Christmas guest editors, so hit subscribe on BBC Sounds to make sure you get an alert every time we release a new episode.

The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.