Every child deserves the right to be creative. Every child has the potential to be magically creative if they are inspired and encouraged. Ensuring that children are given this opportunity has been a passion of mine for many years and it has never been more important than now, given the huge disruption that children have faced over the pandemic. 
Cressida Cowell

Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell is hosting a week of ‘Summer Camp’ activity to celebrate children’s innate creativity and showcase the enormous wealth of talent across the UK.  

You can watch the Summer Camp and see the full line-up and daily schedule of events on their website.

Monday 6 July: ‘Inspiring Magic Ideas’

Cressida’s Creativity Summer Camp launches with a glimpse into the work-in-progress notebooks of leading authors and illustrators with Liz Pichon, David Almond, Dapo Adeola, Chris Riddell and Allen Fatimaharan revealing the inspiration behind their much-loved stories and their creative process. 

Cressida’s ‘Laureate Gallery’ celebrating creativity opens today, with children invited to submit their own work to be exhibited alongside that of former Laureates Michael Morpurgo, Anne Fine and Lauren Child as well as Candy Gourlay, Yasmeen Ismail, Jim Field, Jackie Morris and more. For further details, visit: booktrust.org.uk/childrens-laureate-magic-ideas

Tuesday 7 July: ‘Drawing Day’

Celebrating drawing and the art of illustration, Cressida will be joined on the second day of Summer Camp by Nadia Shireen, Marta  Altés and Sarah McIntyre, who present a step by step drawing masterclass, plus a Summer Camp themed online art lesson from Guinness World Record holder Rob Biddulph.

Wednesday 8 July: ‘Poetry & Performance’ 

Poetry and performance are the theme of Summer Camp on Thursday, with Young People's Laureate Theresa Lola leading a poetry workshop and readings and tips from Laura Dockrill, Joshua Seigal and Joseph Coelho, plus Cressida will be reading some of former Laureate Michael Rosen’s most loved poems.   

Thursday 9 July: ‘Reading Aloud Around the World’

On Thursday - which marks the one year anniversary of Cressida Cowell’s appointment as Waterstones Children’s Laureate - international Children’s Laureates from around the world will unite with Cressida for a Laureate readathon, with Jason Reynolds (US), Eloise Williams (Wales), Áine Ní Ghlinn (Ireland), Ursula Dubosarsky (Australia) and Manon Sikkel (The Netherlands), to celebrate the power of sharing a story. 

Friday 10 July: ‘Writing Masterclass’

On the final day of Cressida’s Creativity Summer Camp, Eoin Colfer, Zanib Mian, Sharna Jackson will be helping aspiring writers with a masterclass containing plenty of story starter ideas, advice on creating characters, and how to build an imaginary world. And to wrap-up Summer Camp, Cressida will be joined by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Onjali Raúf for a very special live event where they will answer as many questions as possible in a creativity brainstorm!