THE 2023 PHILIPPA PEARCE LECTURE was given by Cressida Cowell and is entitled: How To Train Your Reader and Life-Changing Libraries.
Cressida Cowell is the multi-award-winning author and illustrator of the bestselling The Wizards of Once and How to Train Your Dragon series, and the author of the Emily Brown picture books, illustrated by Neal Layton. She was the Waterstones Children’s Laureate from 2019 – 2022.
Her How to Train Your Dragon series has sold over 11 million books worldwide in 38 languages and is a major DreamWorks Animation film franchise and a successful TV series on Netflix and CBBC.
Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency, a Trustee of World Book Day, and a founder patron of the Children’s Media Foundation. We are thrilled that she will be our 2023 Pearce lecturer, speaking on a vital issue that she has done so much to spotlight in the UK and internationally.
The lecture took place at 5.00 pm on the 20th of April in the Mary Allan Building, Homerton College, Cambridge, CB2 8PH.