'Childhood lasts a lifetime': Relive Baroness Floella Benjamin giving the BookTrust Annual Lecture

Published on: 12 October 2018 Author: Catriona Wightman

Authors, illustrators and publishers gathered together to hear Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE give the 2018 BookTrust Annual Lecture last night.

Stars including Philip Ardagh, Liz Pichon, Ed Vere, Marta Altés, Christopher Edge and Fleur Hitchcock were at the event, which was hosted by the BBC's Samira Ahmed.

In a wide-ranging talk with the theme 'Childhood Lasts A Lifetime', Floella movingly discussed her own childhood experiences and explained how what happens to us when we're young stays with us throughout our adult lives - which is why children's books are so vital and authors, illustrators and publishers need to take their position seriously.

Floella called for more diversity - with race, disability and gender - and shared her life philosophy of the three Cs: consideration, contentment and confidence.

And she added a fourth, explaining that children need to see us all displaying courage to do the right thing.

But Floella also delighted many in the audience when she invited a special guest to the stage: Humpty from Play School.

Relive the evening with an inspiring moment from the Lecture and then scroll down to see our gallery...

'Denying children books dumps them into a cultural wasteland,' says Floella Benjamin