Tucked neatly beneath Allbrook House, a “slab block” of maisonettes on the Alton West Housing Estate in Roehampton, is a public library. It was here, beneath the domed concrete roof, that children’s laureate Joseph Coelho nurtured an early love of reading. “I remember going there as a very young child and running to the oversized book section. It had books on unexplained mysteries – the Yeti and the Loch Ness monster – as well as Fungus The Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs,” he recalls. “Libraries have always been very important to me, growing up and throughout my life. They certainly made me a reader and, by extension, a writer.”
Coelho published his first poetry anthology, Werewolf Club Rules, in 2014. It went on to win the Centre for Literacy in Primary award and he has since become a prolific author of children’s, YA and middle-grade titles. These include Ten-Word Tiny Tales, published earlier this year, which Guardian reviewer Imogen Russell Williams called a “playful, unsettling” collection featuring “broken hamster cages, underwater carnivals and bears in outer space”. In 2019, while touring his work, Coelho pledged to join one library in every local authority as part of an ambitious, UK-wide “library marathon”. This week, he will make the last of 213 pit-stops – in Liverpool, Bury and the Isle of Man – before concluding his tour with a daylong celebration at The British Library. The marathon kicked off before Coelho was appointed the 12th children’s laureate in 2022 and chimed with news that 773 UK libraries had closed since 2010.
“Communities certainly feel those losses,” says Coelho. “They offer so many services that people don’t know about. You can get your newborn baby weighed in a local library, you can get your hearing aid batteries changed, or you can go in for a cup of tea or coffee and sit somewhere warm without having to part with any money. There are Lego clubs, board game clubs, live recitals, theatre. I can’t think of any other spaces that provide that community hub.”
His comments echo recent research from the University of East Anglia, which found that libraries generate at least 3.4bn in yearly value through services supporting literacy, digital inclusion and health among other things.
Libraries have been a constant presence in Coelho’s own life. He secured his first Saturday job at West Hill Library in Wandsworth, which closed in 2007. As an undergraduate, he worked in the rare books section at The British Library. And today, as a poet and playwright, he regularly delivers readings and performances in libraries across the country. During his marathon tour especially, Coelho has happened upon countless unique and charming spaces, such as the “tiny but perfectly formed” library in a converted one-bed near Blackpool and the Tardis-like library bus in Peterborough.
“What’s been fairly universal was the complete passion of the librarians, who often know their patrons by name and are always keen to recommend books” says Coelho. “I was in a library the other day in Wales, where they set up puzzles on the table. They were really delighted at how quickly these puzzles would get completed. For me that was so representative of what libraries [are about]. It’s the heart of community, it’s people coming together.”
The marathon is one of three projects that Coelho is rolling out during his laureateship, all of which are ramping up this autumn. To celebrate the power of poetry he has been releasing weekly prompts on YouTube, 50 of which will be published in an upcoming compendium on 17 October. Alongside this, he recently launched a series of talks to spotlight diverse talent in publishing. Titled Bookmaker Like You, the first took place at Bath children’s literature festival over the weekend and featured the award-winning illustrator Selom Sunu.
Coinciding with the advent of Black History Month, the series aligns closely with Coelho’s personal mission to ensure that all children are represented in literature. “Black History Month is about highlighting elements in black history that haven’t necessarily been taught before,” he says, pointing to books like The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries by JT Williams, which fictionalises the real stories of black historical characters Dido Belle and Elizabeth Sancho, as well as Black and British: An Illustrated History by David Olusoga, which charts the history of black people in Britain from Roman times to present day.
Alongside his work as laureate, Coelho is writing a middle-grade title as well as a new addition to his board book series, Luna Loves. However, he is most excited about the upcoming children’s anthology he is editing. Called Spin, it will be released by Otter-Barry Books in 2024 and will feature work by 10 diverse poets who have never written for young people before. “It’s something I’m quite passionate about, because I feel there’s a real need for more voices in the publishing space. We’re seeing that slowly start to change, which is wonderful and a cause for celebration, but obviously, there’s still more work to be done.”
How does it feel to know that any number of children might pluck these titles from library bookshelves and begin a lifelong reading journey? “I still have to pinch myself because it took me 12 years to get published,” says Coelho. “I keenly remember that hunger to get words in print and to be able to share my work far and wide. It means the world to me that young people can engage with it and that it’s happening without me knowing. It’s really quite beautiful.”