Acclaimed Author and Illustrator Anthony Browne Named As New Children's Laureate In The U.K. For 2009 – 2011
Press Release:
New Children’s Laureate announced!
Anthony Browne was announced as the sixth Children’s Laureate at a ceremony at Centre Point, London, on 9 June 2009
Andrew Motion, chair of the selection panel, awarded Anthony Browne with his medal in front of 180 guests at Paramount, Centre Point.
Andrew Motion said:
‘Anthony Browne is an absolutely distinctive and extraordinarily skilful artist – someone whose work entrances children, and has influenced an entire generation of illustrators. His pictures and stories give deep and immediate pleasures, while also insisting that we – children and adults – return to them – and when we return, we have a gradually-expanding sense of discovery. It is a great pleasure to be able to recognise the achievement of Anthony’s work by celebrating his appointment as Children’s Laureate.’
Anthony Browne responded:
‘I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I want to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words. Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader’s imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.’
To watch a video of Anthony Browne at the announcement click here.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
That’s wonderful news! Browne will be no doubt be a wonderful Laureate.
We discovered his book “The Shape Game” a few years ago, and it made quite an impression on my budding artist. She was impressed to learn that the boy in the story turned out to be a book artist. Drawing being her favorite thing in the world, we have been playing the “shape game” ever since. We have pads of paper everywhere just for that purpose—and we go through them so quickly! We always make sure to have one when we go out for dinner, so we can play while we wait for our food : ) I can’t recommend the book–and the game–enough! We like Browne’s other books, too, but this one is definitely our favorite.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Wonderful quote on picture books! It’s so true! You’re never too old for a good picture book.
June 16th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Yes, indeed, Anthony Browne is an exciting appointment. He’s the first illustrator appointed since the first Children’s Laureate, Quentin Blake, 10 years ago and I’m sure, like each of the Children’s Laureates to date, he will bring a lot of his own expertise and enthusiasm to the role – and now I need to go and look for “The Shape Game” because it’s not one of his books we know…
June 16th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Children’s laureate — what a great idea! Didn’t know about it until this post. And interesting comment about Quentin Blake, Marjorie. While we were in London, we saw Quentin Blake’s work in an exhibit at the V & A’s Museum of Childhood.