BookTrust Annual Lecture 2018: Childhood Lasts a Lifetime with Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE
Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE gave the 2018 BookTrust Annual Lecture at a special event at RIBA in London.
The theme of Baroness Benjamin's Lecture was 'Childhood Lasts a Lifetime', and she used her speech to discuss the long-lasting impact of experiences we have when we are young.
The former Play School presenter - who delighted the audience by bringing her former co-star Humpty on stage - drew on her own history of leaving Trinidad to join her parents in England as a young girl.
'Denying children books dumps them into a cultural wasteland'
She also encouraged the publishing industry to take their responsibility to young people seriously and called for a 'diversity nirvana', emphasising the importance of children seeing themselves in the books they read.
Guests at the Lecture included authors and illustrators such as Helen Oxenbury, Ed Vere, Liz Pichon and Philip Ardagh.
More about Floella Benjamin
Baroness Floella Benjamin, OBE, DL was born in Trinidad in 1949 and came to England in 1960, aged 10. She is an actress, presenter, writer, producer, working peer and an active advocate for the welfare and education of children.
She is best known as a presenter of the iconic BBC children's television programmes Play School and Play Away, and she continues to make children's programmes. Her broadcasting work has been recognised with a Special Lifetime Achievement BAFTA and OBE.
She was appointed a Baroness in the House of Lords in 2010 where she continually promotes legislation to protect children's wellbeing. In 2012 she was presented with the prestigious J. M. Barrie Award by Action for Children's Arts, for her lasting contribution to children's lives through her art.
Floella has written 30 books, including Coming to England, a Guardian Children's Book of the Year 2016, which is used as a resource in schools in social and cross-curricular areas. The book was adapted into an award-winning film for BBC Education.
She was also appointed Chancellor of the University of Exeter until 2016 and this year had honorary Freedom of the City of London bestowed upon her.
Floella Benjamin on Coming to England and its impact 20 years on