Chris Riddell, author and illustrator of the award-winning Goth Girl series, has been announced as the new Children’s Laureate for 2015 – 2017. Many of you will have had the pleasure of seeing Chris Riddell at the University as he has been involved in many of the events here and also studied at the University of Brighton!  As well as writing his own books, Chris Riddell has illustrated books with Paul Stewart, Quentin Blake and most recently worked with Neil Gaiman on the fantastically subversive fairytale The Sleeper and the Spindle. He follows on from the likes of Malorie Blackman, Julia Donaldson, Anthony Browne and Michael Rosen who have all held the prestigious role of Children’s Laureate. The position is awarded to an exceptional talent in children’s writing or illustration and gives the awardee the opportunity to promote a particular area of children’s books that they are passionate about. Chris Riddell will be championing creativity, visual literacy and school libraries, which is great news! On spreading the awareness of the role of school libraries and librarians he said:

“I don’t want to go around wagging a figure and saying that you ought to do this or that,” he said. “I’d like to go to places and say, this is fantastic, have you seen this? And encourage parents to go in to their schools and experience their school libraries and meet the librarians.” Librarians, he added, “are the custodians of literacy – they lay the stepping stones that start the journey from one book to another, widening horizons and the reading experience.”  (from The Guardian)

It is wonderful to see an illustrator awarded the role of Children’s Laureate and I’m sure he will be a worthy recipient. Here is his five-point plan for the next few years: