Our Patrons

We are very fortunate in having the support of a number of distinguished writers and poets who have agreed to be Patrons of the Children's Poetry Bookshelf. All of them think it is important to make good poetry available to children so that they can find out for themselves how uniquely enjoyable it can be. We are extremely grateful for their support.

Our Patrons are:

Andrew Motion

Andrew has been Poet Laureate of England since 1999. A prize-winning poet and biographer, he has worked indefatigably as a champion for poetry. His most recent collection is Public Property and he is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College. He is uncomfortably aware of the difficulties of getting poetry to children: "It may be that poets themselves are to blame, or the alluring mass of other entertainments available to children. But whatever the reasons, the fact remains that the majority of people still feel poetry is 'not for them', in a way that few people would feel fiction isn't, or film, or the theatre" but there is hope for children as "their most likely first experience of poetry is in the playground, chanting - delighting in rhythm and rhyme for its own sake, discovering how memory enjoys like-sounds, and finding how the clear sight of familiar things, let alone their rearrangement, can lead to wonder."
Follow this link for Andrew's article on Children and Poetry

Andrew has been a supporter of the CPB from the very beginning, declaring that 'this is a wonderful initiative' when it was first launched. We are delighted that he is still on board and giving us the benefit of his enthusiasm and support.

Adrian Mitchell

Adrian has written for adults and for children for fifty years and is the prolific author of poetry, novels, plays, including an adaptation of the famous Marat/Sade, screenplays, story books and libretti. He describes himself as 'a free-falling poet, playwright and writer of stories' and has stayed true to his early reputation as an underground rebel.

Adrian says: "More and more of my time is spent writing for children. This is partly because I have six grandchildren." His most recent children's poetry collection was Daft as a Donut, which was a CPB Choice in 2004. He is a huge supporter of children's literature and a marvellous reader of his own work.

Adrian says: "If you want to write good poems, you need to read thousands of poems by other people from many countries and different centuries. You should also read poems by living poets and this is where the Children's Poetry Bookshelf will give you a great start. (Some people say to me: Ooh, I don't want to read other poets, they might influence my style. I say to them: Listen, idiot, all good painters and musicians and writers learn their trade by looking at the work of the best painters and musicians and writers in the world. If you don't read, you'll never be a writer.)"

Ian McMillan

Ian McMillan, affectionately known as 'the Bard of Barnsley' is widely known across the UK for his tremendous enthusiasm and drive. He has been a poet, broadcaster, commentator and programme maker for over 20 years. He is a tremendous performer, not only compulsively watchable but also full of surprises. A terrific television personality, he has also hosted The Verb and performed regularly on many other radio and TV shows. Sue Arnold in the Observer called him 'without doubt the funniest, quirkiest, sharpest presenter in the business". It's a joy to watch Ian performing for children, who adore his outrageous and hilarious stage show.

Ian's children's poetry is published by Macmillan and titles include The Invisible Villain, Elephant Dreams and The Very Best of Ian McMillan. Adult titles from Carcanet include I Found this Shirt and Dad, the Donkey's on Fire. He is a tireless supporter of children's poetry, whose irrepressible humour and enthusiasm have led countless numbers of children to discover they enjoy reading and writing poems.

Ian thinks that: 'Poetry is essential to the lives of children (and adults!) from the rhythm of mother's heartbeat to the nursery rhyme to the nonsense song to the way to describe the moon to the verse for Granddad's birthday card to the rap to tell someone you love them; the Children's Poetry Bookshelf helps to foster a love of poetry and is creating a new generation of readers and writers and that has to be a wonderful thing!'