Frank Cottrell-Boyce writes stories in which an unlikely beginning opens a much bigger world. He also writes for screens and champions children’s reading. His festival conversations gave adults who love children’s books a chance to hear him think about the lives, imagination and care behind those stories.
Quick facts
Best known for
Millions and imaginative children’s fiction
Genre or subject
Children’s fiction, screenwriting and writing about childhood
Latest book
A British Childhood: How Our Children Live Now (2026), Picador
His debut children’s novel won the Carnegie Medal, beginning a fiction career that includes adventures about money, space travel and an improbable art crime. He has a long collaboration with illustrator Steven Lenton, and his writing has reached readers through books, television and film. The combination makes him an appealing writer to hear if you enjoy a story finding more than one form.
His screenwriting includes Doctor Who and the animated adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom. With Danny Boyle he devised the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. He also co-hosts the children’s writing and illustration podcast The Island of Brilliant! with Nadia Shireen. These are professional strands of a career built around telling stories and sharing them with audiences.
He served as Waterstones Children’s Laureate from 2024 to 2026. His latest book, published by Picador in June 2026, draws on encounters with children during that work, including school and library visits. It considers the conditions in which children grow up and the place of imagination and care in their lives. The two festival conversations here followed that non-fiction book.
Where to start with their books
Millions
Two brothers discover a bag of money and have only seventeen days to spend it. The extraordinary windfall makes a lively starting point for talking together about what you would keep, give away or do if a fortune suddenly landed beside you.
Cosmic
Twelve-year-old Liam is so tall that adults mistake him for a grown-up, and his fibs eventually carry him into space. Start here for an adventure that takes an ordinary childhood problem and sends it far beyond the familiar world.
Framed
Dylan is the only boy in a small Welsh town when lorries carrying precious cargo arrive at the disused mines. His curiosity draws him into an unlikely art crime, giving a reader a mystery to follow as the quiet place changes around him.
Festival appearances
For tickets, use the host festival’s official box office. Confirm the date, venue and access details before paying.
At Hay on 29 May, Cottrell-Boyce talked to Tom Gatti on the Meadow Stage about A British Childhood: How Our Children Live Now. Edinburgh followed on 17 August in Venue T. The conversations centred on childhood and reading, not a performance of one of his children’s adventures.
For a parent, teacher or reader who cares about what books can do for children, this was a chance to hear the writer think aloud about the world outside a story as well as the imagination inside it. His accounts of meeting children during the laureateship gave the discussion a clear centre.
The attraction for a fan was also the connection between the writer of funny, improbable adventures and a public advocate for reading. You could come because you had shared a novel with a child, then listen to the broader questions about the conditions in which children read and grow.
Where to see them next
No 2027 appearances announced yet. Check the festival guides for programme dates.
Plan your trip
Treat one of these conversations as an outing for the adults who share the reading life of a child. If you are buying for a young reader as well, check the audience guidance with the box office before deciding that a favourite author’s name makes it a family session.
Leave time to browse the children’s books after the talk. Choosing the next read together can be a good way to carry the conversation home, especially if an adult and child have different favourites. Use the festival guides for your base and transport, and keep the reading part of the day relaxed.
The 2026 programmes featured Frank Cottrell-Boyce at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Festival; follow those guides for event information and practical visit details.
Were these family storytelling shows?
The two conversations focused on non-fiction about childhood. If you are considering another visit with a child, use the age guidance for that session. His name can appear in different kinds of programme, so choose the conversation or performance that suits your group.
Which of his novels should we try first?
The three suggestions below offer different adventures: a sudden fortune, an accidental journey into space and a mystery involving paintings. Choose the beginning that makes your reader most curious. Sharing a book can be as good a route into his writing as reading alone.
How do I buy a ticket to hear him?
Follow the host festival’s box office from the appearances table. Tell the organiser about any seating or access needs before paying, and use the festival guide to plan the journey. You can make an afternoon of one conversation without booking a full festival stay.
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