Who is Nicola?
Nicola Davies began her career as a biologist and studied geese, bats and whales in the wild. She worked as a presenter for the BBC Natural History Unit on programmes like The Really Wild Show, before becoming an author. She has written more than 90 books for children and young people, including poetry, picture books and novels. Her work has been published in more than 12 different languages and won awards in Wales, the UK, Europe and the US.
In addition, to many books about the natural world Nicola has written about disability, grief, human migration and children’s rights. Her recent YA novels The Song that Sings Us and Skrimsli, both published by Firefly Press, have both been nominated for the Yoto Carniege Award for Writing in their respective years of publication. Skrimsli won the Children and Young People’s category of the Wales Book of the Year in 2024, and her poetry collection Choose Love (Graffeg) was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Award for Writing 2024.
Exploring the pleasure of reading
Speaking about her hopes for her time as Children’s Laureate Wales, Nicola said: “I want all children in Wales to experience the pleasure of reading, the superpower of writing, and to find their own voices as creative change-makers and advocates for a fairer, and more sustainable future.”
What does the role do?
The Children’s Laureate Wales is committed to:
- Expanding children and young people’s access to literature, in particular children and young people from marginalised and under-represented backgrounds
- Improving children and young people’s physical and mental health and well-being through literature
- Increasing children and young people’s enjoyment of literature
- Empowering children and young people through creativity
The Children’s Laureate Wales keeps busy by:
- Running poetry workshops inside and outside of the classroom
- Penning official poems to mark special occasions and campaigns which are of interest to children and young people
- Creating online creative resources for children and young people to enjoy
- Championing the voices of Wales’ children and young people nationally and internationally
How to get in touch?
For further information, visit the Literature Wales website, or get in touch on childrenslaureate@literaturewales.org