At THE START of 2007, a small group of Philippa Pearce’s friends, family and colleagues began organising a series of memorial lectures to be delivered by various distinguished speakers with an interest in children’s books.
The inaugural lecture was held on 11th September 2008, at Homerton College, Cambridge, and focused on Philippa Pearce ’s own writing and contribution to children’s liturature. Subsequent lectures have ranged more widely, but we hope that they will all tend to reflect her own wide-ranging literary interests in, for example, the short story, the ghost story, the picture book and, of course, the novel. Many of of the speakers may be authors themselves; all, from their different perspectives, will provoke thought. In this way and in Philippa Pearce's honour, we seek to acknowledge and understand excellence in writing for children, and to emphasize its continuing vital importance.
2008: Julia Eccleshare, Victor Watson, David Wood
2009: Michael Rosen
2010: Michael Morpurgo
2011: Philip Pullman
2012: Malorie Blackman
2013: Kevin Crossley Holland