April 2026 is the start of a new school term and lots of new children’s book award announcements and prize shortlists. Michael Rosen has won the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing, while Cai Gao has taken the illustration award. IBBY said 78 candidates from 44 countries were considered for the biennial prize, which honours lifetime achievement and lasting contribution to children’s literature.
Jon Klassen has been named the 2026 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The Swedish government prize, worth five million kronor, drew 263 nominations from 74 countries and regions, and will be presented in Stockholm on 25 May.
CLPE announced the 2026 CLiPPA shortlist on 15 April at a live online event watched by thousands of schoolchildren. The five books are Five Little Friends: A Collection of Finger Rhymes by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Fiona Woodcock, A First Book of Bugs by Simon Mole, illustrated by Adam Ming, The Poetry World of John Agard by John Agard, illustrated by Shirley Hottier, Press Start to Play by Sam Gayton, illustrated by Jack Noel, and This is Not a Small Voice: Poems by Black Poets, edited by Traci N. Todd and illustrated by Jade Orlando.
The shortlist ranges from finger rhymes for younger children to poems about bugs, a debut collection shaped by video game rhythms, and an anthology of Black poets from the US, the Caribbean and the UK. Nicola Davies chairs the judges, with Colette Hiller, Jake Hope, Lisa Mead and Anjali Patel, and schools can join the free CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme from 20 April.
Shortlisted poets Sam Gayton, Simon Mole, Sean Taylor and Traci N. Todd read at the launch, while Shirley Hottier represented John Agard. The winner will be announced at the CLiPPA Poetry Show at the National Theatre on 9 July, where Chris Riddell will live draw the event.
The 2026 UKLA Book Awards shortlists are also out, chosen by 85 teachers across four categories. The lists run from A Wild Walk to School by Rebecca Cobb and Bothered by Bugs by Emily Gravett to Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, Wolf Siren by Beth O’Brien, Choose Your Own Evolution by Jules Howard, illustrated by Gordy Wright, and Frog by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus. Winners will be announced at the UKLA International Conference in Glasgow on 3 July.
The English 4-11 Picture Book Awards shortlist covers fiction and non-fiction for ages 4 to 7 and 7 to 11. Among the selected titles are Pencil’s Best Story Ever by Carly Gledhill, Taking the Long Way Home by Jake Hope, illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald, The Great Pollination Investigation by Deborah Hocking, Boss of the Underworld Shirley vs The Green Menace by Tor Freeman, Leave the Trees Please by Benjamin Zephaniah, illustrated by Melissa Castrillon, How to Save Your Granny from a Runaway Train by Swapna Haddow, illustrated by Jess Bradley, and A Tree is a Time Machine by Rob Sears and Tom Sears. Winners will be announced on 27 April, and the shortlist will be displayed at the English Association Conference at Senate House on 13 June.
IBBY UK has revealed 11 submissions for the 2027 Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities list and says the field reached a record level this year. The selection includes Owning It: Our Disabled Childhoods in Our Own Words, edited by Jen Campbell, James Catchpole and Lucy Catchpole, illustrated by Sophie Kamlish, When the Stammer Came to Stay by Maggie O’Farrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, How to Be Disabled and Proud by Cathy Reay, and Let’s Play by Alex Strick, illustrated by Annie Kubler and Sarah Dellow. The final selection will be announced at the Bologna Book Fair in 2027.
Walker Books will publish Princess Pete in May, ahead of Pride season. Written by Zoey Allen and illustrated by Frenci Sanna, the picture book for readers aged 3 and over is billed as an introduction to gender diversity, centred on a child who sometimes wants to be a prince and sometimes a princess.
The Jhalak Prize has published its shortlists for its 10th year, with awards for Children’s and YA, Poetry and Prose. The children’s and YA list includes Augmented by Kenechi Udogu, How to Catch an Idea by Forest Xiao, My Name Is Samim by Fidan Meikle, Roar by Manjeet Mann, Supa Nova by Chanté Timothy and The Shell Keepers by Truly Johnston. Each prize is worth £1,000.
Puffin has used the Bologna Children’s Book Fair to launch Puffin Studio, a new picture book list led by Andrea MacDonald and Clare Doughty. Its opening roster includes established names such as Ed Vere and Nadia Shireen, rising creators including Huw Aaron, Polly Noakes and Dylan Hewitt, and newer voices including Dan Ojari and Conor Merriman, with titles including The Slimy Cave Full of Slime, Waffles and Julius: No Room for You!, Fluffykins and the Big Day Out, Hoof! and The Last Starcatcher.
Rokeby School in Kingston has released Half Human: Return of the Dvanaest, the sequel to Half Human: The Prison Key, in what it describes as the first fiction book series published by a school. The YA books were co-authored and edited by members of the Rokeby Writing Team from Years 6 to 8 with school librarian Mark Drewery, and the school says the project has led pupils into further writing, games and art as well as the books themselves.
Another school-facing pitch comes from Kate Lawson, a deputy headteacher who has worked in teacher training and lectured at Bath Spa University. She is offering free consultancy to authors while she builds a portfolio, after a class visit to an author event at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival left her thinking more carefully about age pitch, modelling and how school events can generate follow-on work.
The Ashdown Forest Foundation has opened its annual poetry competition on the theme of friendship to mark the 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh. Run with the Royal Literary Fund, it is free to enter, now includes a primary category for ages 6 to 11 as well as secondary and adult sections, closes on 8 May, and will be judged by Joseph Coelho, Jane Riordan, Gyles Brandreth, Kathryn Aalto and Fiona Sampson.
The Seriously Epic Holiday of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby
On the sales side, Katie Kirby has posted a commanding week with The Seriously Epic Holiday of Lottie Brooks, which sold 48,725 copies and put her more than 35,000 copies ahead of the next title in the children’s chart. It gives Kirby a third overall number one and an eighth week on top of the Children’s Top 20, while Tahereh Mafi’s Release Me opened in second place with 8,796 copies, as the wider market still slipped week on week in volume and value.
A different sort of archive story has opened at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, where full colour illustrations from Rik Mayall’s 1986 Jackanory performance of George’s Marvellous Medicine are on public display for the first time. The six illustrations by Frances Cony form the centrepiece of George’s Marvellous Easter, and visitors can also see set photographs, read an unpublished alternative ending from the museum archive, and, yes, try to grow their own grandma.
