Malorie Blackman was the eighth Children’s Laureate and is one of the UK’s most popular children’s authors. She has won, amongst a raft of other prizes, the Children’s Book Award and is the force behind YALC. In 2005 she was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award and in 2008 she received an OBE for services to children’s literature. She has been described by The Times as ‘a national treasure’. She lives in Kent.