Rosen Tapped as UK Children’s Laureate

By Carmen 

The Bookseller reports that Michael Rosen has been selected as the new Children’s Laureate, replacing novelist Jacqueline Wilson. The role will see him working to promote children’s literature to as wide an audience as possible. He will hold the position for two years. Rosen’s prolific writing work as the author of over 140 books encompasses non-fiction, novels, picture books, stories from other cultures and poetry, and he is currently working on a biography of Roald Dahl.

Rosen told The Bookseller that he will use his time as Children’s Laureate to work to change the current perception of children’s poetry. “Poetry sales are struggling in the trade and I’d love to speak to retailers about how we can work together to change that,” he said. As children’s laureate, he will also focus on children’s literature in general and is looking to achieve a much more local focus on children’s books and authors. “Wouldn’t it be good to have local trails of children’s literature? Libraries have fantastic records of local figures and that would be a great starting point for this kind of project,” he said.