Author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce has been crowned the Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2024-2026. He was presented with the bespoke silver Laureate medal by outgoing Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho, at a ceremony held at Howard Assembly Room in Leeds.
The Waterstones Children’s Laureate is the foremost representative of children’s literature, awarded biannually to a renowned writer or illustrator “in recognition of exceptional talent”. Managed by reading charity BookTrust and sponsored by Waterstones, the role celebrates creativity and storytelling, and promotes the importance of reading and children’s literature.
Liverpool-based Cottrell-Boyce is a multi-award-winning children’s author. Since his debut Millions (Macmillan Children’s Books) won the CILIP Carnegie Medal, he has penned a plethora of books — including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (Macmillan Children’s Books), the official sequel commissioned by the Fleming Estate. He is also a script and screenwriter, devising the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, co-writing the Platinum Jubilee “Paddington” sketch, and writing for “Doctor Who”, “Goodbye Christopher Robin” and “The Beautiful Game”.
At the ceremony, Cottrell-Boyce launched his Laureateship with a speech declaring his ambitions for children’s books and the benefits of reading to be “taken seriously”. He pledged to dedicate his two-year tenure to igniting a national conversation about the role books and reading can play in transforming children’s lives, referencing the decades of evidence suggesting that reading for pleasure significantly impacts the life outcomes of a child. This campaign, which is called “Reading Rights: Books Build a Brighter Future”, also includes plans for a national summit bringing together expert voices in the political, education, literacy and early years sectors.
“Our children are living through the aftermath of a series of crises, the pandemic, a series of wars and an unfolding environmental crisis,” Cottrell-Boyce added. “The only public conversation is about how we can make our children ’catch up’ — which seems to me a kind of code for forgetting this ever happened. None of us has the slightest idea about what the future now holds for them — but the one thing we do know is that they will need to know how to be happy.”
He added: “Every child has to have the opportunity to begin to build the apparatus of happiness within themselves. I will use my time as Waterstones Children’s Laureate to call for a reset in our attitude towards how we value children’s books and reading — to start this story again — and to campaign for the millions of children living in poverty to be given the same life-changing chances […] Whoever we wake up to Friday morning, they have the power to make a revolutionary change in children’s lives.”
Diana Gerald, c.e.o. at BookTrust, commented: “Reading can help young children who missed out on critical development opportunities during the pandemic and who have fallen behind in terms of literacy, language development, and communication skills. It can help children overcome the consequences of rising levels of poverty and inequality, particularly if we read with them in their early years. The appointment of Frank as Children’s Laureate gives us a powerful advocate for the disadvantaged and vulnerable children and the transformative effect that reading can have on their lives.”
