‘I want to show how much fun you can have with drawing,’ the author and illustrator, who has worked with Neil Gaiman and Russell Brand, says of new two-year post

Illustrator and writer Chris Riddell, who has worked with authors Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen and Neil Gaiman and illustrated Russell Brand’s first kids’ book, has been named children’s laureate. He is the ninth author to hold the two-year post. Riddell, who takes over from Malorie Blackman, will focus on creativity and visual literacy, extolling the meditative pleasure – for everyone – of creating a drawing every day.

In advance of the announcement he said: “Do you have hands? Excellent. That’s a good start. Can you hold a pencil? Great. If you have a sketchbook, open it and start by making a line, a mark, wherever. Doodle. Take a line for a walk, as Paul Klee said. Lose your inhibitions about drawing and just do it.”

Chris Riddell: ‘It’s about the texture of lines on the page’ Read more

At the ceremony on Tuesday he outlined his five-point plan. He will post a daily illustration on an online “laureate log” for the duration of his tenure: “It’s all going in there and I to post online at least once a day so you can find out what I’m doing”. He also said he would open a conversation about the great heritage of UK writers and illustrators, and promised to turn up at branches of Waterstones for impromptu drawing session. He wants to encourage people to draw every day, and intends “to celebrate librarians at the heart of our schools”.

The children’s laureateship was created in the 1990s by then poet laureate Ted Hughes and children’s author Michael Morpurgo. Awarded every two years to a children’s writer or illustrator, the role includes acting as an ambassador for children’s literature. Riddell is only the third illustrator to hold the position, after Anthony Browne and Quentin Blake.



Riddell, who is also the Observer’s political cartoonist, is known for his Ottoline series, which he writes and illustrates, and for his partnership with Paul Stewart on The Edge Chronicles, Muddle Earth and Barnaby Grimes books. With Quentin Blake he developed the idea of a House of Illustration gallery, which opened in King’s Cross, in London, in 2014. He teamed up with Neil Gaiman on Booktrust Teenage prize-winner The Graveyard Book and on last year’s reimagined fairytale The Sleeper and the Spindle, controversial for its illustration of the Queen waking Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Last year, he won the Costa children’s book award for Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, and he has also been awarded two Kate Greenaway medals. His work is admired for its wit and style and its appeal to children of all ages and adults.

Julia Eccleshare, the Guardian children’s books editor and member of the children’s laureate selection panel, said: “With dedicated followers – from preschoolers who love Mr Underbed to adult readers of the Observer who enjoy his Sunday cartoons, and not forgetting the passionate fans of Goth Girl, the Edge Chronicles and Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle – Chris’s reach as an author and illustrator is exceptional. His witty, atmospheric and evocative illustrations are contemporary and classic, referencing the line drawings of John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham, among others.

Working on a children’s book with Russell Brand – pages from Chris Riddell's sketchbook Read more

“But beyond his printed work, there is Chris in action; out there, meeting children and adult readers, and tirelessly conveying his own seemingly unquenchable passion for illustration and his desire to encourage others to believe enough in their own talent to be creative, too.”

It is a popular appointment among children’s authors. Outgoing laureate Malorie Blackman said: He’s going to be brilliant. It couldn’t have gone to a better person. I love the way he’s going to bring the emphasis back to illustration because I think there’s still this negative feeling about illustrations in older books - we don’t really have them in this country - and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”

Carnegie prize-winning author Patrick Ness said: “I think he’s going to be great. It’s so hard to follow in Malorie’s footsteps so he’s got a big job ahead of him. Doing something creative every day, which is what he talks about in his five point plan is so fantastic. And also what I love is that he’s a political cartoonist as well for adults. I think the boundaries of literature have collapsed in the last 15-20 years and I love that he does both and there’s no distinction between what he stands for and what he does for kids.”

His younger readers, on the Guardian children’s books website, were also enthusiastic. “It should be exciting, if he keeps to his promise of posting every day. I’ve got trust in him that he will,” said Joshua Povey, 14.

Rosa Gatley, aged 13, added: “I’m really pleased, really happy. I read the Ottoline series and they were great. I like the idea of integrating illustration with reading. Children should be drawing every day as well as reading. And I like the idea of him going into bookshops and sitting down in the corner drawing!”



“He’s not someone I know of straight away but I’m looking forward to finding out more about him. I like the idea of linking together pictures and reading because when you read you have those pictures in your head,” said 15-year-old Lucy Bell.



The 53-year-old illustrator, who lives in Brighton, is dedicating his laureateship to championing creativity and, in particular, to visual literacy. “I want to show how much fun you can have drawing … parents and children can draw together as a wonderful shared activity,” he told the Guardian. “I want to bring drawing back to the basics, make it about the pleasure that it can afford and remove the notion that it’s some kind of precious or difficult activity. It’s another way of telling a story.”

Like a previous laureate, Julia Donaldson, he will also be a cheerleader for libraries. The Gruffalo author embarked on a UK tour of public libraries; Riddell will focus on school libraries. While he accepts the political element to fighting for library funding, he wants to focus on the wide diversity of provision – from schools with tiny reading nooks to those with big hub libraries filled with resources – and spread awareness of the role of school libraries and librarians.

“I don’t want to go around wagging a figure and saying that you ought to do this or that,” he said. “I’d like to go to places and say, this is fantastic, have you seen this? And encourage parents to go in to their schools and experience their school libraries and meet the librarians.” Librarians, he added, “are the custodians of literacy – they lay the stepping stones that start the journey from one book to another, widening horizons and the reading experience.”