POETIC LAUREATE

Joseph Coelho, the award winning performance poet, playwright and children’s author, has been crowned the twelfth Children’s Laureate. He was appointed with a bespoke silver medal by Cressida Cowell MBE, the outgoing Laureate, at a ceremony in the Unicorn Theatre in London on 4 July.

The Children’s Laureate is awarded biannually to a renowned writer or illustrator in recognition of exceptional talent. Managed by Booktrust and sponsored by Waterstones the role celebrates creativity and storytelling, promotes the vital importance of reading and children’s literature and champions the right of every child to enjoy a lifetime enriched with books and stories. Each Laureate brings their own passion and creativity with areas they want to focus on.

At the ceremony, Joseph said he wants to celebrate the power of poetry, showcase new authors and illustrators to diversify bookshelves and inspire bookmakers of the future and champion public libraries and the role they play in communities. He also performed a new poem written to mark the occasion called ‘The Power of a Poem’.

Major Projects To deliver his ambitions, Joseph’s Laureateship will focus on three major projects:

Bookmaker Like You will showcase new talent within the industry and spotlight their work, so that children are introduced to a range of creatves that reflect everyone in our diverse society and ensure every child can see themselves as a bookmaker.

Poetry Prompts will celebrate the power of poetry in all its forms breaking down the fear often associated with reading and writing to show why poems are for everyone, and the joy that writing, reading and performing poetry can bring. Library Marathon Joseph wants to champion local libraries, highlighting the vital role they play and inspiring a love of reading in young people. He aims to join a library in every local authority in the UK and encourage more people to register with their local library.

Life and Influences Joseph grew up in a Tower Block in Roehampton in London in the 1980s with his mother and sister. He didn’t think of being a writer as a child, it didn’t occur to him he could be - writers were special people who existed in far off places.

He has memories of copying the pictures from a copy of Fungus The Bogey Man by Raymond Briggs and writing his own story under them. His first memory of writing a poem was in year eight in secondary school when he entered a poetry competition. He didn’t win, but he kept writing poems about how he was feeling and what was going on in his life.

Sometimes he would share them in drama class. In one class he was inspired by a visit from the poet Jean Binta Breeze reading her poems, the first time he realised being a poet could be a paid job.

Joseph studied archaeology at university and had a variety of jobs after, whilst still writing for pleasure. He joined a performance poetry course at Battersea Arts Centre writing poems and sharing them on stage. People enjoyed them and asked him to share his poems in schools.

After some years of running creative writing workshops in schools, writing plays for theatres and performing his poems wherever he could, he began to dream of being a published writer.

A few of his poems had been included in anthologies when he met a publisher at the London Book Fair who agreed to publish his poems. His first collection: ‘Werewolf Club Rules’ was published in 2014 and he has been writing and performing ever since. He writes for children of all ages from the Luna Loves series of picture books to middle grade Fairytales Gone Bad series and Young Adult book The Boy Lost in the Maze as well as non-fiction titles and, of course, his poetry.

As Laureate, Joseph hopes to “connect with my younger self - a self unable to imagine a future writing and publishing books. Through this work, through the young people and families I am lucky enough to interact with, I’m trying to reach down through time and tell little Joe “ You can write, you can be a writer, your voice is valid, your words are waiting to be heard.” Because I know that when the youth of today hear that message, he’ll hear it too.”

“It is a dream come true to be appointed as Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate, beyond anything my younger self could have imagined, and that’s not good enough. During my tenure I will endeavour to ensure every child can see themselves in books and as writers of books as storytellers, as poets, with voices to be heard. So that we can create the future that we need, one where we all read, write and dream the infinite stories of ourselves and each other.”