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To find out more about events staged by the NCRCL, click on the links below:

NCRCL Conference

British IBBY/NCRCL MA conference

Cluster talks

The Child and the Book conference

Children's Literature International Summer School (CLISS)

Other Recent Events

JACQUELINE WILSON LECTURE: "From Tracy Beaker to Hetty Feather - Writing for Children Nowadays"

Wednesday 17 June 2009: Portrait Room, Froebel College, Roehampton University

Dame Jacqueline Wilson hosted the first annual event of her tenure as a Professorial Fellow of Roehampton University on Wednesday 17 June, having already taught a highly successful series of seminars to Creative Writing and Children's Literature MA students during the academic year. Professor Wilson, often described as Britain’s most popular children’s author, was made an honorary graduate of the University in 2007 and subsequently accepted a Professorial Fellowship from Roehampton.

The event, staged by the NCRCL, was a public lecture and question-and-answer session, during which Professor Wilson discussed a huge range of topics, including how she became a professional writer, the challenges of writing for a pre-teen audience and tips for budding authors who wanted to emulate her remarkable success with characters such as Tracy Beaker – although she made it clear she did not want to encourage more celebrity children’s authors in the mould of Jordan, Kylie and Madonna.

Professor Wilson revealed that The Illustrated Mum was her favourite book, remarking that she was “very touched and moved that children who [had a similar parent and] were given the book said it helped them feel less alone”.

She also discussed her reputation as an author unafraid of 'tricky' subjects such as mental illness and homelessness, saying that, as a council estate girl who grew up in Kingston, she wrote books for the inner-city children who “found it hard to relate to the suburban houses and green gardens” of more middle-class writers.

A new Tracy Beaker series will debut on the BBC later this year with a grown-up Tracy working in a children’s home, and Professor Wilson also revealed that, while in hospital last autumn, a fully-formed character “jumped into my bed” and as a result she has completed a new novel about the lost children of the Victorian era, the 'foundlings', to raise the profile and awareness of London's Foundling Museum.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S READING CONFERENCE: Results from the Survey

Saturday 1 March 2008: Roehampton University

A half-day, invitation-only conference focusing on the second survey of children's reading habits in England was held on March 1. Roehampton University recently published the findings of the latest NCRCL reading survey which was funded by the Arts Council,  Young People’s Reading in 2005. The survey, involving over 4,000 respondents aged between four and 16, provides important and interesting detail relating to young people's reading in the early 21st Century. The speakers at the conference were the authors of the report - Kimberley Reynolds, who spoke about the background to the survey, Sophie Mackay and Fiona Smyth, who discussed the design and management of the study, and Sally Maynard, who summarised the analysis and introduced some key results.