#141: Lauren Child, children's author and illustrator

Rachel and Simon speak with children's author and illustrator Lauren Child. She set up her own lampshade company and worked at a design agency before turning to books, publishing “I Want a Pet!” and “Clarice Bean, That's Me” in 1999. As well as the Clarice Bean series, Lauren is the author of the award-winning “Charlie and Lola” books (adapted into a television series which ran from 2005-08) and the Ruby Redford detective series. To date she has sold more than 6 million books in 19 languages worldwide. Between 2017 and 2019 she was the British Children's Laureate, a position awarded to a “writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field”. We spoke to Lauren about her process of writing and illustrating, the impact of celebrity authors on children's literature and her bestselling series.