Patrons & Trustees

Patrons

Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books is supported by the following distinguished patrons:

Click on any of the names above for more information.

Sir Jeremy Beecham

Sir Jeremy Beecham has been a Newcastle city councillor since 1967 and was leader of the council for 17 years. He was the first Chair of the Local Government Association and is a freeman of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Quentin Blake, CBE

Quentin Blake's first children's book was published in 1960. Since then he has illustrated over 250 books by 80 different writers; notably John Yeoman, Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen and most famously, Roald Dahl. He is also well known for his own picturebooks such as Clown and Zagazoo. He has won numerous prestigious children's book prizes. In 1999, Quentin Blake was appointed the first Children's Laureate.

Carol Hughes

Carol Hughes is the widow of Ted Hughes, author, poet and former Poet Laureate. The Iron Man is probably the most famous of Ted Hughes's writings for children. Published in 1968, when his own children were small, this book has become a modern children's classic.

Terry Jones

Terry Jones is perhaps best known as a member of the Monty Python team and as a scriptwriter. He has also written a number of books for children which have been enormously popular. Terry's favourite children's story was Rupert the Bear by Alfred Bestall.

Philip Pullman CBE

Philp Pullman spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he first met the wonders of comics, Superman and Batman in particular. At the age of 11, he moved back to Britain and now lives in Oxford, where he writes in a shed at the bottom of his garden.

Philip says 'I used to love a large number of books, but the ones that have stayed with me and which still give me most pleasure are The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay, an Australian children's classic, and the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. It's no coincidence, I think, that Lindsay and Jansson both wrote and illustrated their books. The integration of story and pictures is perfect in each case, and although their styles were very different, they both achieved a level of delightful invention that continues to enchant me nearly fifty years after I first met them.

Sir John Riddell Bt, CVO CA

John Riddell is Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland and a past Chairman of Northern Rock plc. John Riddell's favourite childhood book was Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling, illustrated many of his son's books and his illustrations remain a favourite with John Riddell today.

Jacqueline Wilson OBE

Jacqueline Wilson always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first "novel" when she was nine, filling countless Woolworths' exercise books as she grew up. Jacqueline has won many awards, including the Smarties Prize, and the Children's Book Award, and millions of copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Jacqueline Wilson is the current Children's Laureate.

David Almond

David Almond was born in Newcastle and grew up in Felling-on-Tyne. His first book for young people, Skellig, was published in 1998 and won the Whitbread Children's Award and the Carnegie Medal. David always wanted to be a writer and dreamed of seeing his books on the shelves of his local library as a child. Working as a teacher for five years, David quit his job, sold his house and moved to Norfolk to concentrate on his writing. David has won numerous prestigious awards for his writing and his books are bestsellers all over the world.

Trustees

Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's books is a registered charity and is independently governed by a Board of Trustees who give their time voluntarily.

They offer a variety of skills and expertise ranging from children's books to the legal and business fields.

The Trustees have successfully steered the project with enthusiasm and care from a fledgling idea to where it is today, as Britain's first centre dedicated to children's books.