The exceptional talents behind some of the nation’s best-loved books - from The Gruffalo to The BFG, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to the Charlie and Lola series - the Children’s Laureates are the perfect ambassadors for children’s literature.

It’s been twenty wonderful years of the Laureateship and now all ten former honourees have banded together to celebrate the only way they know how: through stories, poems and pictures . Among others, Quentin Blake tells the stories behind his pictures of weird and wonderful beasts, Michael Morpurgo draws on childhood memories for a moving wartime tale and Michael Rosen plays with language and shapes in his witty, read-aloud poems. Each contribution is designed to inspire children to create their own work and is accompanied by a note from the authors - rare insights from the finest talent in the world of children’s books.

Above all else, Flights of Fancy celebrates the Laureateship’s most important achievement: encouraging children to let their imagination soar.

1. 2018 Chris Riddell 2017, 2018 Quentin Blake 2018 Anne Fine 2018 Michael Morpurgo 2018 Jacqueline Wilson 2018 Michael Rosen 2010 Anthony Browne 2013, 2018 Julia Donaldson 2018 Malorie Blackman 1999, 2018 Lauren Child