Liverpool Hope University’s Professor of Reading and Communication, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, has been named as the new Children’s Laureate.
Now in its 25th year, this prestigious role is awarded biannually to a renowned writer or illustrator in recognition of exceptional talent.
Managed by BookTrust and sponsored by Waterstones, the laureateship celebrates creativity and storytelling, promotes reading and children’s literature, and champions the right of every child to enjoy a lifetime enriched with books and stories.
Professor Cottrell-Boyce was appointed on Tuesday 3 July when he received the bespoke silver medal from outgoing laureate, Joseph Coelho, at a ceremony at Howard Assembly Room in Leeds.
“I am so proud to be here today, being passed the torch of the Laureateship,” he said.
“Writing and reading has transformed my life – and I write children’s books because I think they help build the apparatus of happiness inside us.
“I’m privileged to be part of those intimate, crucial, person-forming moments when people share stories with the children in their lives.
“I’m privileged to visit schools up and down the country – to read to children, and to see a Britain that is innovative, eccentric, funny, up for it, open-hearted.”
Born in Liverpool, Professor Cottrell-Boyce is a multi-award-winning children’s author.
Since his debut novel Millions won the CILIP Carnegie Medal he has penned a number of popular books, including Cosmic, Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, Runaway Robot and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again - the official sequel commissioned by the Fleming Estate.
He is also a highly regarded script and screenwriter, devising the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, co-writing the Platinum Jubilee Paddington sketch, alongside writing for Doctor Who, Goodbye Christopher Robin and, most recently, The Beautiful Game, starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward.
He follows in the footsteps acclaimed children's authors such as Quentin Blake, Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson, who have all previously held the Children's Laureate role.
Professor Cottrell-Boyce launched his laureateship with a powerful speech in which he announced the launch of a new campaign, Reading Rights: Books Build a Brighter Future.
He added: “My tenure as Waterstones Children’s Laureate will have happiness at its heart, but it will be about urgency.
“It will be about addressing invisible privilege and inequality. It will be about the increasing number of children in poverty being left further and further behind.
“It will be about calling for national provision so that every child – from their earliest years – has access to books, reading and the transformative ways in which they improve long-term life chances.”