An incredibly exciting thing happened to me on Tuesday. I, like a fancy journalist, got to attend the announcement ceremony and after-party thing of the new children’s laureate 2015-2017!! In case you have no idea what this is, here’s a definition I found on the internet:
‘an eminent writer of children’s books who is appointed to promote and encourage children’s interest in literature and reading.’
Past examples of these are Michael Morpurgo, Anthony Browne and the last winner, Malorie Blackman…
This is a BIG DEAL. I didn’t even realise it myself when the fabulous people at Guardian children’s books emailed to tell me that I’d got the job of interviewing the new one. And it’s safe to say that this is one of the best bookish experiences I’ve ever had! *stifled scream of excitement*
I’ll get to what I actually did in a sec, but FIRST: who is the new laureate? I personally really wanted it to be Patrick Ness; I thought he’d be perfect, and he would definitely deserve it too (while he didn’t actually win, I still got to meet him which I am still slightly buzzing from). It’s actually CHRIS RIDDELL! Heard of him? It took me a second to remember what he’s written. Ever heard of the Ottoline series? Or the Goth Girl books? That was him; the amazing illustrations too.
Yes, while he’s an author for younger kids, I am still incredibly pleased because I read and loved the Ottoline series (even went as her for year five World Book Day, with a blonde wig thrown over a teddy bear to create Mr Monroe), and I’m also pleased the judges brought an illustrator into the mix. A lot of what Chis plans to do as laureate is to do with drawing, such as his “laureate log” (check out his Instagram @chris_riddell) and his plans to get kids drawing every day, as well as reading or writing.
During my interview with him I also found that he’s incredibly versatile, seeing as he held my attention completely and the two older kids there as well, which I appreciated seeing as the laureate it meant to be for kids of all ages. He could talk for ages (and he did!) and I would listen. He’s also pretty hilarious. Basically, I think the panel did a fabulous job of choosing him, especially after the pretty incredible Malorie Blackman (who, lets face it, has left some pretty big shoes to fill).
After finding out who’d won (the ceremony was at Bafta, no less) the other two young journalists and I, as some people referred to us as, hung around for a while, doing quickfire interviews with other authors who happened to be at the event, finding out about their views on the new laureate, and what they thought about the importance of illustrations in books. While it was great experience and very informative I really had my work cut out because we had maybe thirty seconds to devise each question (including frenzied Googling of the approaching author before we entered the actual interview to find out about his/her work). I think I may have engaged in conversation with more strangers than I have in the past year. I think I did fairly ok, seeing as small talk makes me want to curl up in a small ball and hide under the nearest chair.
While small talk is not my forte, I really did enjoy meeting so many authors at once. I was very quickly introduced to Malorie Blackman (excuse me while I bask in her glory), the guys behind the Cbeebies show Rastamouse, and others like Philip Ardagh and Sarah McIntyre.
And then we did the interview, on the professional Bafta stage (which excited me more than it should have really). Overall, the entire experience was incredibly exciting, from getting to talk to Chris Riddell to just getting to meet the guys behind the usernames on the Guardian children’s books site. Thank you!
