And now a bit of background: Philippa Pearce died in 2006, but respect and affection for her writing is as strong as ever. She’s the author of Tom’s Midnight Garden, which won the Carnegie medal in 1954. After Philippa Pearce died, a series of lectures were begun to celebrate excellence in writing for children, called the Philippa Pearce memorial lectures – the first was held on 11 September 2008.
Meg Rosoff, whose debut book How I Live Now won the Guardian children’s fiction prize in 2004, is the latest author to give the lecture. Speakers who have gone before include Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo, Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman, Kevin Crossley-Holland and France Cottrell Boyce. Meg’s latest book is Picture Me Gone.
