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The Latest Breaking News from Frank CottrellBoyce

Children’s reading should prioritise pleasure over learning, says laureate

Frank Cottrell-Boyce tells MPs to focus on early-years reading, with more support for parents and nursery workers

The Guardian - UK

Frank Cottrell-Boyce calls for children’s reading to be treated as a ‘right’, in final laureate lecture

Speaking at the Royal Institution, the author and screenwriter linked falling literacy rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media

The Guardian - UK

Children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce calls for national action to tackle ‘reading crisis’

Too many children are starting school without consistently experiencing the warmth of shared stories and books, Cottrell-Boyce said

The Independent UK

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The rise of the literary nepo baby? The children of famous novelists on following in their parents’ footsteps

From Naomi Ishiguro to Jess Atwood Gibson, more children of high profile writers are becoming authors themselves. Parents and their literary offspring discuss the pressures of measuring up

The Guardian - UK

Young readers sought to be judges for Children’s Booker Prize

The new annual prize will celebrate the best contemporary fiction for children aged eight to 12 years old.

Evening Standard

Screenwriter Reveals How Queen Elizabeth II Helped Shape Her Most Iconic TV Moment

“She put herself up for that, she wanted to be in the sketch," writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce revealed.

Marie Claire

Parents warned children with no reading experience start school as ‘second-class citizens’

Children’s laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce outlined how almost 50% of children arrive at school without having been read to by their parents

The Independent UK

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Gisèle Pelicot and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe among Hay Festival 2026 speakers

The line-up for this year’s festival includes Emma Thompson, Malala Yousafzai, Ian McEwan and other prominent authors and figures

The Guardian - UK

Children being ‘sedated’ by algorithmic YouTube content, MPs hear

Experts including children’s laureate lament low quality of entertainment and call for more funding for children’s TV

The Guardian - UK

BBC is our last hope for saving children’s TV, says Children’s Laureate

Frank Cottrell-Boyce gave evidence during the CMS Committee’s opening session into its inquiry on children’s TV and video content.

Evening Standard

The Children’s Booker prize will include works of translation – here are five expert recommendations to get your kids excited

The buzz around the newly announced Children’s Booker has focused on its potential to “tell kids they matter”, as they get their own version of this prestigious literary prize. With children actually included in the judging process, the prize has the power to bring thousands more young people “into the…

The Conversation

Booker prize launches £50,000 children’s award

Children will help judge the new prize along with children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce

The Guardian - UK

Booker Prize announces launch of first award for children’s fiction

The Children’s Booker Prize winner will be chosen by a combined panel of child and adult judges and awarded £50,000.

Evening Standard

Booker Prize launches children’s fiction award with £50,000 up for grabs

The winner will be chosen by a combined panel of child and adult judges

The Independent UK

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The Guardian - UK

‘The crosser Jeremy Paxman got, the more we giggled’: what it’s like to come last on a TV show

From scoring so badly at Eurovision it made Terry Wogan resign to having Paul Hollywood call your cake ‘tough as old boots’, here are the contestants who lost big on the nation’s favourite shows

Evening Standard

Children’s Laureate calls for action over ‘indefensible’ reading inequality

All children and families should have access to high-quality books that are ‘representative of the contemporary UK’, a report says.

The Guardian - UK

The Guardian view on the Gruffalo: a well-timed comeback, wart and all

Editorial: The next challenge for Julia Donaldson’s monster is to get its claws into parents and persuade more of them to read aloud

The Guardian - UK

How Covid changed children in Britain

Uncertainty, disruption, increased screen use and crippling anxiety are some of the legacies of pandemic school closures

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The Guardian - UK

Martha Mills young writers’ prize 2025 opens for entries

This year’s competition for 11- to 14-year-olds, in memory of the budding writer who died aged 13, is on the theme of A New World

The Guardian - UK

Children facing a ‘happiness recession’ says laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Author will highlight the ‘enormous disadvantage’ handed to children without access to books, and call on government to improve early-years literacy

The Independent UK

Children’s Laureate Cottrell-Boyce warns early years reading at ‘crisis point’

Author Frank Cottrell-Boyce wants the Government to address the ‘invisible privilege and inequality’ of ‘more and more children’ falling behind.

The Guardian - UK

The week in audio: Today’s guest editors; A Point of View; Monstrosities Mon Amour; Shipping Forecast Day – review

Radio 4’s Today guest editors ranged from the glum to the glorious, while the station truly excelled in a day-long celebration of the Shipping Forecast at 100

The Guardian - UK

Rundown schools risk ‘irreparable’ harm to pupils, UK children’s laureate says

Exclusive: Frank Cottrell-Boyce says Conservative funding freeze over 14 years has created ‘enormous’ equality gap

The Guardian - UK

Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure

National Literacy Trust finds only 35% of eight to 18-year-olds enjoy reading in their spare time, a sharp drop on last year to the lowest figure yet recorded

The Conversation

Frank Cottrell-Boyce is the new children’s laureate – four reasons he’s the perfect choice

Children’s publishing is awash with celebrity authors. So when Frank Cottrell-Boyce was named BookTrust’s Children’s Laureate, some fellow writers may not have been wholly delighted. After all, Cottrell-Boyce is better known by many for his screenwriting work. He has written successful screenplays for a roster of films, including Millions (2004),…

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