All hail Chris Riddell, who has become the first ever illustrator to win the CILIP Kate Greenaway medal three times, for his illustrations of Neil Gaiman’s retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, The Sleeper and the Spindle (published by Bloomsbury). Riddell is also the first reigning children’s laureate to win either the Carnegie or Kate Greenaway medals; both awards are unique because they are judged solely by the nation’s librarians.

Chris Riddell said he was “honoured and humbled” to accept the Kate Greenaway medal: “I have to stop and proverbially pinch myself. I’ve got to say the book itself is a very special book for me personally. It was a journey I took with Neil Gaiman and so in that sense I’m delighted for the book.”

One the scenes from The Sleeper and the Spindle, illustrated by Chris Riddell and written by Neil Gaiman Illustration: Chris Riddell

“Neil’s got a great turn of phrase, that sounds simplistic but his prose resonates and that is something that I respond to as an illustrator. He’ll lead you towards the scene and then allow you to people and visualise that scene... Neil adds small details and these people come to life – and then he invites you to imagine that, to imagine sleeping people becoming animated and walking the streets, part enchantment and part zombie movie. Neil leads me there – and then steps back and says ‘imagine it’. The Sleeper in the Spindle is full of such moments. I felt his presence through the whole illustrating process.”



Chris Riddell has won the Kate Greenaway medal twice before, in 2001 for Pirate Diary and 2004 for his adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver. He is the first three time winner of either the Kate Greenaway or the Carnegie medal.

Libraries have been a central theme of Chris Riddell’s laureateship. In his acceptance speech on Monday, Riddell praised librarians as “pretty amazing people… they love turning children into readers by teaching them one of the most important life skills you can acquire, which is reading for pleasure. Not SATs tests, or attainment levels, or league tables but the joy of losing yourself in the pages of a good book.”

Chris Riddell is an outspoken critic of library cuts and told us: “We nationally need to think again. What often happens is things get brought down to local scales, and then the argument is invidious - for example we are closing this library down because we want good health care. But libraries are so important culturally, when you lose them, you lose part of our culture. We need to stop and consider whether we want to live in a society where libraries are being downgraded.... When I see a library under threat it breaks my heart. We also need to take the conversation forward into the area of school libraries which are the fulcrum of literacy and promoting life long reading for pleasure. I would love to be in the country where we led the world in this amazing thing called reading for pleasure.”

Sioned Jacques, chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals judging panel for 2016, said: “We were blown away by Chris Riddell’s work in The Sleeper and the Spindle; he is surely at the height of his powers. His illustrations lift this re-told tale into high art, offering sumptuous pleasures on every page. Some 15 years after Chris first took home a Kate Greenaway Medal he shows no sign of slowing down – he remains a thrilling, prolific and prestigious talent.”

Chris Riddell is the first reigning children’s laureate to win either the Carnegie or Kate Greenaway medals, and is passionate about past laureates working together as a collective: “Past laureates are as relevant now as when they were laureates. They are titans. I’ve felt the presence and support of them all through my laureateship so far, and when we talk as a collective all sorts of people listen”.

So what does the future hold? “After the enabling tsunami of the Kindle, people say we can access everything but we want to curate our bookshelves,” Riddell said. “We’re in the new age of the beautiful book.” Look out for Riddell’s sure-to-be-beautiful illustrated version of Frances Hardinge’s Carnegie shortlisted The Lie Tree coming soon.

Chris Riddell receives £500 worth of books to donate to his local library and is also awarded the £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize. Congratulations to all those longlisted and shortlisted for this year’s Kate Greenaway medal. Also well done to all the young people who shadowed the prize.