I have encountered those who feel that libraries have served their purpose and are no longer needed. There are those who consider them a soft target when it comes to local authority budget cuts. In certain political quarters, there is a refusal to see that our public library service needs active protection. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
In a television interview, I said that diversity in our children’s books should include the adventures of disabled children, travellers and gipsies, LGBT teens, different cultures, classes, colours, religions. It shouldn’t be a token gesture, nor do such stories need to be ‘issue-based’. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
I don’t believe in regrets. There are a few things I’d do differently, but I can’t go back in time and redo them, however much I might wish to. All I can do is learn from past mistakes and move forward. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
When I wrote ‘Noughts and Crosses’, I was halfway through it when I realised this was very like ‘Romeo and Juliet’… as long as you make it your own, and put your own spin on it, I think it’s brilliant to use other great work to find your own voice. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
Teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know. Yet, too often, this creative spark is left to flicker precariously and sometimes fade entirely. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
I subscribe to the online Urban Dictionary’s definition of nerd: ‘one whose IQ exceeds his weight’. I’m also keen on the same Urban Dictionary’s definition of geek: ‘the person you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult’. I happily proclaim myself a book nerd/reading geek and proud of it. Malorie Blackman Read Quote
The worst thing about being the laureate has been the attitude of a tiny minority of adults who haven’t liked some of the things I’m supposed to have said and who have used it as an opportunity to be verbally abusive and nasty, but I haven’t let it rule my world! Malorie Blackman Read Quote
What I would like to do is make sure every primary school child has a library card, so where parents don’t get their children library cards, we’ll see if we can get schools to step in and make sure that every child has one. Malorie Blackman Read Quote