© Laurence Cendrowicz

Rosen's ideas for his two year laureateship include live poetry experiences for children and (at his son's suggestion) a YouTube-style website for poetry performance. He joked that "diverse verse for all" could be a slogan for his plans to fight the "grip of the literacy strategy".

"Poetry can be more ambiguous and suggestive than prose," he said. "It can look both ways at the same time, and be a portable philosophy. Everyone remembers a line or two of poetry."

When asked if he' had come up with a word to rhyme with 'laureate', he admitted that the closest he'd found so far was 'Harriet'.

Rosen proclaimed his support for Booktrust initiatives such as the promotion of picture books in schools and Reading for Pleasure programmes for Year 7 children.

Another plan is to produce lively materials for children's literary trails, highlighting local connections to literature throughout the country.

Having signed up to Authors Against SATs, Rosen discussed the damaging ways in which he believes SATs have shaped teaching. He emphasised the importance of sensations, feelings, scenes and characters in children's reading experience. With his own children in primary education, Rosen worries about the lack of connection children might have with bland reading scheme characters as opposed to, for example, the mouse in The Gruffalo.

Rosen also talked of the "fraud of synthetic phonics" and said that there were many ways to teach children how to read, but that all of these should involve books.

The previous holders of the two-year role are Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpugo and Jacqueline Wilson. "I can't promise queues of girls around the block," he said, closing with an acknowlegement of Jacqueline Wilson's hard act to follow.

Report by Luisa Plaja

MICHAEL ROSEN WILL BE GIVING A LIVE FORUM SESSION ON THE WRITE AWAY WEBSITE, 8.00 - 9.00 pm on MONDAY 18th JUNE. REGISTER AND LOGIN TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION.