Patrice Lawrence named UK children's laureate: what the role does and why it matters

The announcement

Patrice Lawrence, the 59-year-old author of young adult novels including Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Needle, has been named the new UK children’s laureate, succeeding Frank Cottrell-Boyce. According to The Guardian and the BBC, Lawrence was presented with the silver laureate medal by Cottrell-Boyce at a ceremony at London’s Barbican Centre hosted by poet and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. The role is managed by the children’s reading charity BookTrust and is awarded biennially to a renowned writer or illustrator; the BBC reports Lawrence will serve until 2028.

At the launch of her two-year tenure, Lawrence set out a clear thematic agenda. She said she would champion “the power of books to make us feel like we belong, and shared stories as a tool for bringing people together,” and that stories help children — “particularly vulnerable children” — “feel seen, understood and, most importantly, valued.” She also said she wanted to “celebrate the unsung heroes who bring joy and nurture reading communities through their work,” a phrase echoed in both the BBC’s and The Guardian’s reports.

What the laurate role actually is

For readers unfamiliar with the post: the children’s laureate is a publicly appointed figurehead for children’s literature in the UK, held for a two-year term. The laureate does not run a festival or award prizes directly; instead, the role is a platform used to promote children’s reading, advocate for libraries and literacy, and shape which kinds of books receive institutional attention from schools, bookshops and government. The post is sponsored in part by Waterstones and administered by BookTrust, a charity that runs reading programmes for children and families across England.

Past holders form a roll-call of major British children’s authors and illustrators. The Guardian and BBC list previous laureates including Quentin Blake, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Malorie Blackman, Lauren Child and Cressida Cowell, with Cottrell-Boyce having used his tenure to promote reading for pleasure alongside the UK’s National Year of Reading.

Lawrence’s background and body of work

Lawrence was born in 1967 to Trinidadian parents who travelled to Britain to train as nurses, The Guardian reports. She was privately fostered by a white working-class family in Brighton for her first four years while her mother completed her training, and now lives in Hastings. Her breakthrough came relatively late: she published her debut picture book Granny Ting Ting in 2009, then Orangeboy in 2016 at the age of 49. Orangeboy, a YA novel about a Hackney teenager drawn into gang violence after a first date, won the Waterstones children’s book prize for older children and the Bookseller YA book prize in 2017, and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. The Guardian adds that she also won the inaugural children’s and young adult category of the Jhalak prize.

She has published 16 books spanning picture books and YA, including People Like Stars, Is That Your Mama? and Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush. She received an MBE for services to literature in 2021 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023, according to both the BBC and The Guardian.

Reactions from the sector

BookTrust CEO Diana Gerald said the appointment gives a “much-needed voice to the vulnerable children pushed to the edge of our society,” and that the charity looked forward to supporting Lawrence’s work in communities across England “to explore how sharing stories can strengthen wellbeing, build relationships and nurture meaningful community connection.” Waterstones’ children’s campaign manager Nick Campbell told The Guardian: “Patrice is recognised as an essential voice in children’s literature, and booksellers love to recommend her work.” Kate Edwards, chair of the judging panel, said Lawrence’s writing “creates a safe space” for young readers “to explore complex, sometimes difficult, issues.”

Why it matters

The laureate role is influential well beyond literary circles because it is one of the few UK posts explicitly tasked with shaping the national conversation about children’s reading. By choosing a thematic focus — for Lawrence, the role of shared reading in “times of fragmentation,” and the specific experiences of children in care, refugee children and the children of prisoners — a laureate can steer funding, advocacy and media coverage toward particular reader groups for the duration of the term. The Guardian reports Lawrence plans to build “an evidence base” showing the impact of books on these groups, telling the paper: “To change policy you need evidence. We say stories work, let’s show how they work.”

The appointment is also a notable moment for representation in British children’s publishing. Lawrence told The Guardian that as a young reader she “presumed children’s books were written by people who were white and dead,” and that until her mid-30s every story she wrote featured white characters. She credits the 1999 BBC adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Pig-Heart Boy with changing her sense of who could be a children’s author — Blackman is now a previous laureate. Her selection, alongside Blackman’s in 2013–15, signals that Black British authors are now regular presences in the role rather than outliers.

The bigger picture

The UK children’s laureate post was created in 1999, with Quentin Blake as the first holder, and has generally tracked — and at times pushed — the mainstreaming of concerns in children’s literature: the value of libraries (Blake), social realism (Wilson, Blackman), reading for pleasure (Rosen, Cottrell-Boyce). Lawrence’s stated focus on community cohesion and belonging is consistent with that lineage but arrives at a moment when UK reading habits are under particular strain: school library budgets have been cut over the past decade, and youth reading-for-pleasure rates have fluctuated in national surveys. The Guardian and BBC do not cite specific reading statistics in their reports, so the scale of the challenge Lawrence inherits is not quantified in the available coverage.

It is also worth noting the structural change BookTrust is itself going through: the BBC’s report uses the title “co-chief executive” for Diana Gerald, whereas The Guardian’s report uses “CEO.” This is a minor discrepancy between sources rather than a substantive disagreement, but it is the kind of detail that reflects ongoing organisational change at the charity that administers the laureate role.

Where the reporting diverges

The two outlets are broadly aligned on facts, dates and quotes, but there are small differences worth flagging. The BBC places the announcement as occurring “earlier” on the day of publication, while The Guardian gives the explicit location (the Barbican Centre) and host (Lemn Sissay). The Guardian’s interview piece is also the source for Lawrence’s personal backstory, including the fostering arrangement and her comments about Malorie Blackman — material that the BBC’s news report does not include. Readers looking for biographical depth will find more in The Guardian; readers looking for a tight institutional summary will find the BBC report sufficient.

Neither outlet publishes details of the selection process — who nominated Lawrence, how the judging panel was composed beyond chair Kate Edwards, or whether the shortlist was contested. That process information is therefore unconfirmed in the available reporting.

What to watch next

Over the coming months, watch for BookTrust’s first project announcements alongside Lawrence, any partnerships with schools, prisons or refugee organisations, and any commissioned research output on the impact of reading on children in care, refugee children and the children of prisoners. The 2028 selection cycle for the next laureate will also be a marker of how the role is evolving: whether BookTrust retains a two-year term, whether the sponsorship arrangement with Waterstones continues, and whether the thematic focus shifts again. For now, Lawrence’s stated priorities — evidence-based advocacy, shared reading and visibility for marginalised readers — define the agenda the sector will respond to.