Children's laureate

Waterstones has supported the position of Children's Laureate for several years, and is the current sponsor of Anthony Browne's tenure as the sixth Children's Laureate.

The role of Children's Laureate, which has a bursary of £10,000, is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field. The appointment of a Children's Laureate acknowledges the importance of exceptional children's authors in creating the readers of tomorrow.

The idea for the Children's Laureate originated from a conversation between (the then) Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and children's writer Michael Morpurgo. The illustrator Quentin Blake was the first Children's Laureate (1999-2001), followed by the author Anne Fine (2001-2003), Michael Morpurgo (2003-2005), Jacqueline Wilson (2005-7) and most recently Michael Rosen (2007-2009).

Festival sponsorship

Waterstones formally supports eighteen festivals across the UK including the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, Dartington Ways With Words, and Glasgow's Aye Write Festival. Our sponsorship can take the form of financial support, store support and/or bespoke book stalls and involves a massive contribution of time, energy and commitment from store teams. Ticket sales for Cheltenham in 2009 alone were in excess of 100,000. Supporting festivals reinforces our position as the leading high street specialist, and highlights the knowledge and passion of our booksellers.