Joseph Coelho is a British poet and children's book author who was elected

Children's Laureate Children's Laureate, now known as the 'Waterstones Children's Laureate' is a prestigious position awarded in the United Kingdom once every two years to a "writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their fie ...

in 2022.

Early life and education

Coelho grew up in a tower block in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

, where he was the son of a single parent. He became interested in poetry when Jean "Binta" Breeze visited his school whilst Coelho was in sixth form. He studied

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s in Theatre Studies, English, Chemistry, History and an A/S in Archaeology. Coelho was an undergraduate student in archaeology at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. During his undergraduate studies he directed plays at UCL, after which he took various jobs, including working at Camden Council.

Career

Coelho started performing poetry with performance poetry organisation Apples and Snakes in 2002, performing on the London Poetry Scene. Coelho has a long history in theatre both on stage and behind the scenes, which begun as a youth at Group 64 in Putney. After University Coelho worked with many companies behind the scenes including, The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, The Unicorn Theatre, Talawa Theatre Company, Oily Cart, and Theatre Centre. Coelho is also a playwright and has written plays for: Wordpepper Theatre - Pop-Up Flashback & The PoetryJoe Show Polka Theatre - Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Co-written with Jonathon Lloyd The Unicorn Theatre - Bye Bye Planet Earth Islington Community Theatre - Chicken Shop The Spark Childrens Festival - Tree Child Pied Piper Theatre Company - Robin's Winter Adventure, Co-Written with Tina Williams, The Little Angel Theatre - The Wishing Tree Tutti Frutti Productions - Jack Frost and The Search For Winter Before being published Coelho worked extensively in schools engaging young people with literacy through the medium of poetry running session through Performance Poetry Organisation Apples and Snakes, The Poetry Society, Creative Partnerships. Coelho often runs CPD sessions with teachers sharing ways to engage young people with poetry. At the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and di ...

in 2012 Coelho met Janetta Otter-Barry, the founder of Otter-Barry books. This interaction launched Coelho's career as an author and published poet. In 2014 Coelho published ''Werewolf Club Rules'', a poetry anthology which was awarded the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award. Coelho's second independent collection, ''Overheard in a Tower Block'', was shortlisted for the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award in 2018. Coelho has written over 20 books for young people spanning picture books, middle-grade and YA. Coelho's debut picture book Luna Loves Library day with Fiona Lumbers was nominated for the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal and Chosen as one of the Nation’s top 25 stories to share by World Book Day UK. Coelho's debut YA verse novel, The Girl Who Became A Tree was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

and received a Special Mention for the 2021 Bologna Ragazzi Poetry Award. Coelho is a children's author and poet who is committed to making the reading and writing of poetry accessible to all. As part of these efforts, in 2018 he created resources for

Key Stage 1 Key Stage 1 is the legal term for the two years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 1 and Year 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7. This Key Stage normally covers pupils during infant school, although i ...

and

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The t ...

students on understanding poetry. The resources included a series of videos explaining the different formats of poetry, how to perform poetry and how to interpret poetry. In 2022 Coelho was appointed the

. He has said that poetry was often what people turned to in times of need, “because we instinctively know, deep down in our core, that poetry transcends”. He looks to improve diversity amongst the authors and illustrators on UK bookshelves. As part of his tenure as Children's Laureate he will focus on various different projects, ''Poetry Prompts'', ''Bookmaker Like You'' and the ''Library Marathon''. He launched ''Poetry Prompts'', a set of online writing activities to inspire people to write their own poetry. Additionally, he started a programme called ''Bookmaker Like You,'' which celebrates the authors, illustrators and publishers who underpin book creation. As part of the ''Library Marathon'' Coelho will visit a library in every local authority across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Coelho writes children's books for all ages from Picture Books to YA, including: Picture Books * ''Luna Loves'' with illustrator Fiona Lumbers (Nominated for the 2018 Greenaway Medal) * Luna Loves Art with Illustrator Fiona Lumbers * Luna Loves Dance with illustrator Fiona Lumbers * Luna Loves World Book Day with Illustrator Fiona Lumbers * The Hairdo That Got Away will Illustrator Fiona Lumbers * ''If All The World Were…'' with illustrator Allison Colpoys (winner of the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2019) * ''My Beautiful Voice With Illustrator Allison Colpoys'' (Winner of the Indie Book Awards 2022) * No Longer Alone with Illustrator Robyn Wilson-Owen * Our Tower with illustrator Richard Johnson * Thank You with illustrator Sam Usher Middle-Grade Fairy Tales Gone Bad - Zombierella, illustrated by Freya Hartas Fairy Tales Gone Bad - Frankenstiltskin, illustrated by Freya Hartas Fairy Tales Gone Bad - Creeping Beauty illustrated, by Freya Hartas Run, Friend , Run! Illustrated by Davide Ortu Short-Stories Hope Hunter - Featured in The Book Of Hopes Ed. Katherine Rundell Amelia St-Claire and the Long Armed Killer - Featured in Happy Here, introduced by Sharna Jackson Poetry Werewolf Club Rules, illustrated by John O'leary (winner of the CLPE CLIPPA Poetry Award 2015) Overheard In A Tower Block, illustrated by Kate Milner (Long-Listed for the 2018 Carnegie medal, Shortlisted for the CLPE Poetry Award 2018, Long-listed for the 2019 UKLA Book Awards) A Year Of Nature Poems, Illustrated by Kelly Louise Judd Poems Aloud, illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett Smile Out Loud, illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett Blow A Kiss Catch A Kiss, illustrated by Nicola Killen How To Write Poems, illustrated by Matt Robertson YA ''The Girl Who Became a Tree'' (shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP

, Special Mention for the 2021 Bologna Ragazzi Poetry Award) The Boy Lost In The Maze, Illustrated by Kate Milner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coelho, Joseph People from Roehampton Alumni of University College London English children's writers English poets English male dramatists and playwrights British Children's Laureate Year of birth missing (living people) Living people