Honours Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford
Patron of the Society for Storytelling
President of The School Library Association (2012-2017)
Honorary Doctor of Letters, Anglia Ruskin University Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Worcester Patron of the Story Museum Patron of The School Library Association
Prizes The Carnegie Medal, 1986
Arts Council Prize for the Best Book for Young Children, 1966-8 Smarties Prize: Bronze Medal, 2000
The Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, 2001
Tir na n-Og Award, 2001 EDP/Jarrolds Poetry Prize, 2014 EDP/Jarrolds Winner of The Mal Peet Children’s Award. 2019
Professional Experience Publishing and Broadcasting
Fiction and Poetry Editor, Macmillan & Co. Ltd. 1962-69
BBC Talks Producer 1972
Editorial Director, Victor Gollancz Ltd., Publishers 1972-77
Editorial Consultant to Boydell & Brewer Ltd, Woodbridge, 1983-89.
Teaching
Lecturer in English, Tufts-in-London Program 1967-78
Lektor in English Language & Literature, University of Regensburg 1979-80
Visiting Professor of English, St. Olaf College, Minnesota, 1987, 1988 (also Fulbright Scholar), 1989
Endowed Chair in the Humanities and Fine Arts, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota 1991-95
Fellowships
Gregory Fellow in Poetry, University of Leeds, 1969-71 Arts Council Fellow in Creative Writing, Winchester School of Art 1983 & 1984
British Council Visiting Author
Australia, Canada, India (Writer-in-Residence, University of Madras), Germany, Iceland, Yugoslavia, Malawi, Slovakia, Russia
Committees, etc
Literature Panel, Greater London Arts Association 1973-77; Board of Poetry Book Society 1977-83; Literature Panel, Eastern Arts Association 1983-89 (Chairman 1986-89); Trustee (and Chairman of the Friends 1989-91) of Wingfield Arts and Music 1989-98; Board of Directors, American Composers Forum 1993-97; Steering Committee, King’s Lynn Festival 1997; Co-founder and Chairman, Poetry-next-the-Sea, 1997-2007