Lauren Child is a multi-award-winning, bestselling writer and artist whose books are known and loved the world over. She is the creator of characters including Clarice Bean, Ruby Redfort and Charlie and Lola.
The first book in the Charlie & Lola series, I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato won the Kate Greenaway Medal (now known as the Carnegie Medal for Illustration) and went onto become a multi-BAFTA winning animated TV series across the globe. She has also created the Clarice Bean series for older readers and the Ruby Redfort YA series.
Lauren is an international ambassador for the excellence of UK illustration: she’s been at the forefront of innovation and has raised the profile of illustration as a sophisticated art form for all ages. She works with mixed media, pioneered text as an integral part of illustration and collaborates with artists across different fields. She is a trustee of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and has been awarded an CBE for services to Literature. Lauren is based in London with her family.
Goals as Waterstones Children’s Laureate
Throughout her time as the Children’s Laureate, Lauren focused on championing creativity and the importance of children’s illustration, advocating for giving children and adults the freedom to tell their own stories without restraint of judgment. Her projects included the Staring into Space online resources as well as speaking at the BookTrust Annual Lecture in 2017 on making time and space for creativity, and being involved with the British Council’s Drawing Words Exhibition, and working with Arts Council England as a commissioner for their research into the value of creating thinking within education.
Blessed with an extraordinary talent for spotting things which others seldom notice, 13-year-old Ruby lands an undercover job as a code-breaker for secret-spy organisation, Spectrum.
