Patrice Lawrence named new Waterstones Children’s Laureate

Award-winning author Patrice Lawrence has been named Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2026 to 2028

Presented every two years, the Children’s Laureate honours an outstanding writer or illustrator whose work has made a significant contribution to children’s literature. The initiative is managed by children’s reading charity BookTrust and sponsored by Waterstones.

Lawrence was officially announced as the new laureate during a ceremony at London’s Barbican Centre on Tuesday 7 July 2026. The event was hosted by acclaimed poet, author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay.

Widely recognised for writing across a range of children’s and young adult genres, Lawrence’s work explores the lives and experiences of young people, with a strong focus on inclusion, identity and diverse family structures.

She made her debut with the YA novel Orangeboy (Hodder Children’s Books) in 2016. The novel won The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, while also being shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award.

At the ceremony, in her inaugural speech Lawrence said: “My aim is to create a national conversation that champions the benefits of shared reading and sociable reading experiences. Alongside BookTrust, I’ll explore how books and reading together help communities connect and cohere, especially in times of fragmentation. I’ll work with children and adults with diverse experiences and from diverse backgrounds, children and adults who may feel undervalued in our society, to tell their stories. And I want to celebrate the unsung heroes who bring joy and nurture reading communities through their work.”

Since then, Lawrence has published 16 books, including Needle, People Like Stars, Is That Your Mama? (Scholastic), Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush (Nosy Crow), Our Story Starts in Africa (Magic Cat Publishing) and The Elemental Detectives (Scholastic).

Lawrence was appointed an MBE for Services to Literature in 2021 and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023. Born in Brighton and raised in an Italian-Trinidadian family in mid-Sussex, she now lives on England’s south coast.