MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British author named Artist for Peace by Unesco

And the winner is: Lauren Child

The prize-winning British children's author and illustrator Lauren Child has been selected as the latest Artist for Peace by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the agency announced.

The author's appointment comes in recognition of her commitment and support of Programme for the Education of Children in Need and she will be formally inducted to the post by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura at a ceremony in Paris on 12 December. Under a partnership launched earlier in the year, Ms. Child and her publisher, Hachette Children's Books, agreed to donate three years of royalties from her best-selling book That Pesky Rat to UNESCO's Programme for the Education of Children in Need. The funds will finance various UNESCO-supported projects for children in need, such as those of the Renacimiento Foundation, which works for street children in Mexico City. Also part of the initiative is "My Life is a Story," a campaign begun by Ms. Child to collect stories from children around the world, initially from those who are benefiting from UNESCO-supported projects, so that kids from differing backgrounds can compare their experiences. Several of these writings will be made available on line at www.mylifeisastory.org. UNESCO Artists for Peace are internationally renowned personalities who use their influence, charisma and prestige to help promote the agency's message and programmes. The artists include Manu Dibango, a Cameroonian musician; Patricia Velasquez, Venezuelan actress; Gilberto Gil, a Brazilian musician; Miyako Yoshida, a Japanese dancer; Sumi Jo, a Republic of Korea soprano; and Valery Gergiev, a Russian conductor.