New Patron for Seven Stories

Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle is supported by a number of distinguished patrons. These include Sir Jeremy Beecham, Quentin Blake CBE, Carol Hughes, Terry Jones, Philip Pullman CBE, Sir John Riddell Bt, CVO CA, and Jacqueline Wilson OBE. To add to the list Seven Stories are delighted to announce that local author David Almond has agreed to become a patron of the Centre.

Tim Caulton, Chair of Trustees at Seven Stories says: “David played an invaluable role as an active Board member during the development phase. Board members have been delighted to witness David’s phenomenal success as an author during this period, and we are now privileged that he has now agreed to join our illustrious list of successful children’s authors as a Patron of Seven Stories’.

Elizabeth Hammill, Collections Development Director at Seven Stories says: “As a writer David has put his native North East on the international literary map, revealing it as an ‘undiscovered country’, a place where the everyday that Northerners know is transformed by a ‘strange kind of poetry and magic’. He has been part of the fabric of Seven Stories for many years, joining us shortly after the publication of Heaven Eyes which is set in the Black Middens of a derelict Ouseburn Valley.

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 says: “It's a fantastic honour to be asked to be a Patron of Seven Stories. This great organisation puts children's books right where they should be - at the heart of our culture. It celebrates the joys and passions of reading, writing and illustrating. It opens its doors to one and all. It offers wonderful resources to students of all ages. Like the best of books, it is itself serious, playful, creative, visionary and optimistic. And here it is, right by the Tyne in Newcastle.”