Pullman calls for state awards

Pullman, who travels to Sweden next week to collect this year’s £385,000 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Children’s Literature, said: "We need to remind our country that we have an enormous rich and living heritage of writing and illustration for children. It is second to none in the world. In a way we have been careless with this heritage. Readers care about it but I don’t think the government does."
The Lindgren award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 in recognition of a body of work from an international author or illustrator.
Pullman suggested the creation of a British award, similar to the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, to recognise British authors and illustrators who have contributed an outstanding body of work to the country’s heritage.
"There are a number of people who should be recognised as a ’thank you’ for a lifetime of very good work, but who are unable to fulfil a role like the children’s laureate--I am thinking of such people as Philippa Pearce, Peter Dickinson or John Burningham."
Pullman believes that recognition of artistic achievement could help to address the UK’s media focus on "big-money deals and huge advances" for children’s books rather than literary merit.
Susan Cooper is the latest children’s author to be hailed as a "new J K Rowling" in this week’s press, following a £2m film deal for her quintet, The Dark is Rising.
While British children’s writing has flourished, Pullman said it had become more difficult to get good quality literature to children. "It is comparable to the Jamie Oliver situation in the classroom. The SATs are the equivalent of junk food--devoid of nourishment--while the Schools Library Services that provide living, organic books struggle to survive."> Briefs