Griffiths announced as Australian Children’s Laureate
Andy Griffiths has been named the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2026 and 2027.
Griffiths is author of over 30 books, including the JUST! series, the Treehouse series (both illus by Terry Denton) and recently the Adventures Unlimited series (Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things, illus Bill Hope, Pan Australia).
“Reading is an Adventure” is Griffiths’s mission for his term. He said, “Reading was always an adventure to me. It’s like each book is a little doorway into another world. That is the true pleasure of reading, and I wanted to give that to the next generation.
“The thing I’m most looking forward to in my laureate term is getting out there into the wild and leading children and their parents on wild imaginative adventures. To be able to get out around Australia and show how a whole family can get involved in their child’s reading journey is a dream come true.”
The Australian Children’s Laureate initiative was established in 2008 and has become known as the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation (ACLF). The laureate’s role involves promoting “the transformational power of reading, creativity and story in the lives of young Australians,” according to ACLF.
The laureate is also an ambassador for Australian children’s literature across the country and overseas. They will champion “important issues affecting the entire industry, including educators, librarians, booksellers and publishers”.
Griffiths added, “My passion for connecting children to the power of books, reading and literacy has been the driving force for my work as a children’s author over the past 3 decades and the laureateship is both an opportunity to extend that work and, at the same time, to be a proud representative and advocate for the vibrant community of equally passionate Australian children’s book creators.”
The previous laureate from 2024 to 2025 was Sally Rippin who succeeded previous laureates including Gabrielle Wang (2022–23), Ursula Dubosarsky (2020 to 2021), Morris Gleitzman (2018 to 2019), Leigh Hobbs (2016 2017), Jackie French (2014 to 2015) and Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor (both 2013 to 2o14).
More information about the program can be found on the ACLF website.
Category: Local news
