‘I presumed kids’ books were written by people who were white and dead’: new children’s laureate Patrice Lawrence

‘I know people feel validated and seen by the books I write, which is so important’ … Patrice Lawrence. Photograph: David Bebber

When Patrice Lawrence got the call asking her to become the UK’s next children’s laureate, her first response was disbelief. “I was in absolute shock,” she says, laughing. She is only just beginning to process what it means to join a lineage that includes Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Malorie Blackman and, most recently, Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

“So many people who’ve gone before have had such an influence on my life,” she says. “Without Jacqueline Wilson, I wouldn’t write the kind of books that I do. She was such a trailblazer in social realism for children. And Malorie … well, Malorie only needs one name.”