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You are here: Home / Archives for laureate

A Life In The Day – Lauren Child

March 19, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

extract:

Finishing the Ruby Redfort series has transformed my day. It was a six-book contract, one book of 100,000 words a year. I realise now how much I missed illustrating. It’s so much more sociable. On days when I give talks at schools or events I wear a suit — if I can find one the moths haven’t eaten. Children are brilliant natural artists. They love to draw, paint, make a mess and invent, but it all gets squashed out of them in the pursuit of exams and qualifications. Ideas come when you have space to stare out of the window and let your brain wander freely.

Becoming children’s laureate has given me a voice. I’m determined to change the snobby attitude around picture books. Children’s illustration is viewed as the poor relation to fine-art painting, yet it’s children’s first introduction to art and can have a profound effect on how they view the world. John Burningham’s Granpa, which deals with the loss of a loved one, explains grief to a child far better than anything else.

full piece >>> https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-life-in-the-day-the-childrens-laureate-lauren-child-l5vlnmh9l

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: feature, illustration, laureate

Quentin Blake talks to Lauren Child

August 12, 2017 By achuka Leave a Comment

Not to be missed:

Superb report, by Sally Williams, of a conversation between Lauren Child and Quentin Blake

‘How important is it for you to still be working?’ Child asks Blake. 

‘It is the most important thing there is,’ he says, adding, rather poignantly, ‘Sometimes I have to draw to cheer myself up.’

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: conversation, laureate

Chris Riddell: ‘I fidget when I can’t draw in the margins’ | Saturday Review

September 12, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

feature profile of Chris Riddell in Times Saturday Review by Alex O’Connell

thetimes

Riddell, 54, has become one of the most successful and sought-after children’s book illustrators of his generation, as well as an accomplished children’s writer and The Observer’s spiky political cartoonist. His two series for 7 to 11-year-olds — the Ottoline and Goth Girl books, in which he creates words and pictures — are immensely popular and it’s impossible to walk into even the smallest bookshop and not find at least ten examples of his work on the shelves.

“I only ever write to give myself something to illustrate,” he says, speaking on the phone from his studio in Norfolk, his working retreat from his main home in Brighton, where he lives with his wife, the printmaker Jo Burroughes. “It sounds facetious but it’s true. I love words, I am a reader and the reading will sometimes inspire me to draw something. When I read on my own I have to collaborate with myself.”

via Chris Riddell: ‘I fidget when I can’t draw in the margins’ | Saturday Review | The Times & The Sunday Times.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: feature, illustrator, laureate, profile

PJ Lynch appointed Ireland’s children’s laureate

May 18, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

bookseller

PJ Lynch has illustrated over 20 books since 1984, including modern editions of classics such as Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

Ireland’s children’s laureate – or Laureate na nÓg as it is known – was established to engage young people with high quality children’s literature and to underline the importance of children’s literature in our cultural and imaginative lives.

Lynch said: “Being named the new laureate is one of the proudest moments of my career. I want to explore the magic that happens when words and pictures come together. My theme as Laureate na nÓg will be ‘The Big Picture’ – I plan to do a regular podcast involving live drawing or demonstrating techniques and I’ll invite guests to talk about their drawing passions. I would also love to create a landmark image in a prominent place or places in Ireland as a permanent reminder of the power of pictures to incite the imagination.”

via Illustrator Lynch appointed Ireland’s children’s laureate | The Bookseller.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: Ireland, laureate

The best work of Chris Riddell, new children’s laureate

June 10, 2015 By achuka Leave a Comment

Chris Riddell has taken the baton from Malorie Blackman as the new children’s laureate. This Guardian guardiansmallgallery celebrates Chris Riddell’s glorious illustrations and authorly achievements so far.

From the Edge Chronicles, to Goth Girl, to Ottoline to The Sleeper and the Spindle, revel in the illustrations of Chris Riddell, who has just been crowned children’s laureate

via The best work of Chris Riddell, new children's laureate – in pictures | Children's books | The Guardian.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: illustrator, laureate, pictures

Malorie Blackman: my quest for diversity in children’s books – Guardian video

July 25, 2014 By achuka Leave a Comment

The children’s laureate Malorie Blackman is interviewed by teenager Megan Quibell at the very first Young Adult Lit Convention (YALC) held at Comic Con earlier this month. So one year into her laureateship, how’s it going? Find out in this video

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/video/2014/jul/25/comic-con-malorie-blackman-yalc-video

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: diversity, interview, laureate

Eoin Colfer is third Laureate na nÓg for children’s literature

May 9, 2014 By achuka Leave a Comment

irishtimesNovelist Eoin Colfer has been named as the third Laureate na nÓg, Ireland’s laureate for children’s literature.
The former primary school teacher, best known for his Artemis Fowl series, said: “I feel incredibly honoured and incredibly petrified to be taking on the Laureate mantle” after the work of his predecessors Siobhán Parkinson and Niamh Sharkey.

via Eoin Colfer is third Laureate na nÓg for children’s literature – Book News | Literature & Book Reviews & Headlines |The Irish Times – Thu, May 08, 2014.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: Colfer, Ireland, laureate

Malorie Blackman talks writer’s block, Noel Gallagher and being a warlock – The Independent

November 18, 2013 By achuka Leave a Comment

Malorie Blackman, recent castaway on Desert Island Discs, has doe a short Q&A interview for the Independent:

I find It’s so important to Revel in the arts About four years ago now, I had a serious case of writer’s block. I thought my career was over. So I decided to do other creative things in the hope of getting my own creative juices flowing again. I started piano lessons, I went to art galleries, museums, the theatre. It worked. It got me back writing. I was very relieved.

You must never let your brain atrophy Every year my husband and I take a course in something. He’s done quantum physics, maths, Latin; I’ve done Chinese, drumming, music production. Why? Because it’s important to exercise your brain. It’s a lot of fun, too.

via Malorie Blackman: The Children’s Laureate talks writer’s block, Noel Gallagher and being a warlock – Features – Books – The Independent.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: Desert Island Discs, interview, laureate, Malorie Blackman

‘Children have the right to read rubbish’ | Bookwitch

October 12, 2013 By achuka Leave a Comment

Excellent account of a Laureate event in Manchester from the Bookwitch:

This was another school event organised by the Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Children’s Book Festival, and Malorie was talking to Jackie Roy, who is a favourite chair of mine, someone who asks all the right questions. The event was at Z-arts in Hulme, which is a suitable venue for children of immigrant background in particular to find out how far you can get in life, and that it’s got nothing to do with what colour you are.

via ‘Children have the right to read rubbish’ | Bookwitch.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: Bookwitch, laureate, Malorie Blackman, Manchester

Too much snobbery attached to reading, says Malorie Blackman – who wants to make ebooks more available to children

October 6, 2013 By achuka Leave a Comment

The children’s laureate Malorie Blackman wants to make electronic books more available to children. In an event at The Telegraph Bath Festival of Children’s Literature she said we must do everything we can to encourage children to read, whatever the medium.
"If you want to read on a smart device, all power to you," she said. "It’s about having great stories available, and making sure that children find these books irresistible. I personally love printed books. But as long as children are reading on some device, I’m an advocate of that."
She said there is too much snobbery attached to children’s reading. "When I was at school, I used to love comics, and I remember my teacher marching up to me and ripping the comic out of my hand," she said. "We’ve got to encourage children to read for pleasure and read whatever takes their fancy and not be ashamed of that."

via Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman: 'Children should be encouraged to read electronic books' – Telegraph.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: ebooks, laureate, Malorie Blackman, reading

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