Writer in Residence

During her residency, Lucy will explore the theme of Reading Together, Talking Together, highlighting how shared reading can help children build vocabulary, confidence and communication skills. 

I was absolutely over the moon to be asked to be a BookTrust Writer in Residence, as I have long admired BookTrust’s work. Having this opportunity to talk about the link between reading and children’s speech and language development is a real privilege and feels like a lovely coming together of my two professional worlds. 

There is a wealth of data highlighting increasing rates of speech, language and communication needs among children. Parents and educators reading books and sharing stories with children is a fantastic way to support language development. I’m really looking forward to delving deeper into this subject and exploring how reading together and talking together really do go hand in hand.” 

Lucy Rowland is an award-winning picture book author and children’s speech and language therapist. She lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and two young sons and has written dozens of much-loved picture books which have become firm favourites with young children in the UK and around the world. 

Her books include Ten Little Ducklings (Bloomsbury), illustrated by Aki, which won the BookTrust Storytime Prize last year, Witch Cat (Bloomsbury), illustrated by Laura Hughes, and Little Red Reading Hood (Macmillan Children’s Books), illustrated by Ben Mantle. Recent and forthcoming titles include Magpie and the Sparkling Words (Templar), illustrated by Craig Shuttlewood, The Heart on Your Hand (Macmillan), illustrated by Asa Gilland, and Robber Rabbit (Scholastic), illustrated by Alessandro Montagnana.