The Philippa Pearce Lecture 2026 - Juno Dawson
Celebrating excellence in literature for children
The prestigious Philippa Pearce Lecture is an annual event that celebrates excellence in literature for children. It provides a platform for the very best children’s authors, poets and illustrators to reflect on their art. Always thought-provoking, the lectures have tackled such topics as the significance of time, the place of fear, and what poetry is for.
The lectures were established in 2007 by the family, friends and colleagues of the highly distinguished children’s author, Philippa Pearce, and are now hosted by Homerton College. They attract a regular and wide-ranging audience of academics, writers, publishers and lovers of children’s literature.
We are delighted to announce that the 2026 Philippa Pearce Lecture will be given by Juno Dawson, on the topic of 'The Death of Reading for Pleasure and How to Prevent It'.
Juno Dawson is the internationally bestselling author of Young Adult novels and non-fiction, including the bestselling Clean, the YA Book Prize-winning Meat Market, and This Book Is Gay, as well as a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and columnist for Attitude Magazine. Her fantasy trilogy for adults, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and the prequel novella, Queen B, have been Sunday Times bestsellers. Juno’s writing has appeared in Glamour, Dazed, Grazia and the Guardian, and she was chosen by Val McDermid as one of the ten most compelling LGBTQ+ writers working in the UK today.
The 2026 Lecture will be held at 5pm on Thursday 16th April in the Mary Allan Building Auditorium. Doors open at 4.30pm. After the lecture, there will be a short wine reception in the Great Hall. The Norfolk Children's Book Centre will once again be providing a specially-themed pop-up bookshop.