New Australian Children’s Laureate

We are thrilled to share the news that The Australian Children’s Literature Alliance has appointed award-winning author Morris Gleitzman as the prestigious Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018-2019.

Founded in 2008, the Laureateship is bestowed every two years on an outstanding writer or illustrator of children's books. Its role is to promote the importance and transformational power of reading, creativity and story in the lives of young Australians. Morris Gleitzman will succeed Leigh Hobbs (2016-2017) and previous Laureates Alison Lester, Boori Monty Pryor and Jackie French.

Says Morris “As Laureate, I’ll champion stories and everything stories can offer. I aim to be a kind of ambassador for young readers, and for the community of people who write for them. An emissary from the place where young imaginations draw strength from stories and grow and engage and become our best hope for the future."

Ron Gorman, Chair ACLA says "We were delighted when Morris accepted the role of Children's Laureate for 2018/19. His impressive body of work is well known by Australians, young and old, who will no doubt celebrate his Laureateship. Increasingly, the research is showing us that reading changes lives – Morris will be a persuasive voice in bringing Australians to value reading and children's literature."

The theme for Morris Gleitzman’s two-year term as Australian Children’s Laureate will be ‘Stories Make Us - Stories Create Our Future’.

“Young people need stories more than ever,” Gleitzman says. “Stories to delight, stories to beguile, stories to inspire, stories to move deeply. And through these experiences, stories that equip young readers to embrace an often dark and uncertain world with optimism, resolve and creativity.”

For more than thirty years Morris Gleitzman has been writing books for young people that explore a range of subjects, sometimes serious, sometimes funny and sometimes confronting, but always in unexpected ways. His titles include Two Weeks With the Queen, Boy Overboard, Bumface, Toad Rage and the acclaimed ‘Felix’ series which includes Soon, winner of the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers. His books are published in more than 20 countries.

>> To discover which Morris Gleitzman book you should read next, click here.