Laura Dockrill

Author

Biography

Laura Dockrill is an award-winning children’s author, illustrator, script-writer and performance poet who has been shortlisted for the Waterstones’ Book of the Year prize and has twice been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. She is a poet-in-residence for Radio 1. As a script-writer she co-wrote Goldfish which was nominated for the BAFTA for Best British Short in 2020 and is now being developed into a feature.  As a playwright her work has been seen at the Bush Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall and the Young Vic, and she is developing an original series idea with Sister Pictures. Laura has published an adult memoir called What Have I Done? which detailed her struggles with post-partum psychosis and is now being adapted for television,

She is on the advisory panel at The Ministry Of Stories, was the writer in residence for Booktrust and has judged many literary prizes including the John Betjeman Poetry Prize, BBC National Short Story Prize and the BAFTA Children’s Prize. She is also the founder of ‘This Is Not a Female Tribe’, a networking session for women in the arts, previously held at London’s Southbank Centre. She grew up in Brixton, attended the Brit School and still lives in London with her husband and son.

Her debut adult novel, I Love You, I Love You, I Love You, will be published by HQ in June 2024.

For information on Laura’s children’s books, please click here.

 

Praise for I Love You, I Love You, I Love You 

‘I’ve been waiting for a book to make me laugh this much. It’s so perfectly observed: every woman’s story of the highs and lows of falling in love, perseverance and self-preservation. It will have you reaching for your phone to check in on the one that got away – just in case there is a chance. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it!‘ Dawn O’Porter

‘A spectacular, funny portrayal of being young and in love.’ Woman & Home

‘It is very funny and bursts with energy and should be a hit.’ Matt Haig

‘A frustrating, brilliant and nostalgic book.’ The Sun

‘An absolutely gorgeous book. So visceral, nostalgic, mucky, heartbreaking and bittersweet. Laura captures that weird pocket of time so perfectly: before smartphones, MySpace and calling your mates on the house phone and shag bands and Green Day and all those insecurities and the sharpness of every new experience and feeling. Just DELICIOUS.’ Kirsty Capes

‘EXTRAORDINARY’ Lindsey Kelk

‘A witty tale that will remind you of the days of teenage passion.’ Best

‘The adult debut novel from the bestselling poet and illustrator, I Love You, I Love You, I Love You mines the rapture and torment of first love through an intimate and intense story of a girl secretly in love with her best friend for over a decade.’ Waterstones

‘Laura Dockrill has a huge heart and a beautiful soul and I really loved this novel.’ Clover Stroud

‘A brilliant, nostalgic read.’ Closer

‘An ode to the bittersweet feeling of first love.’ Woman’s Own

‘It’s a transporting, technicolour plunge into first, and enduring, love. As ever, Laura Dockrill’s voice is entirely her own. She writes from the inside out and it’s beautiful.’ Sophie Dahl

‘By turns nostalgic and funny, the novel brilliantly evokes those overlapping feelings from adolescence — the ebullience, the miscommunication, the drama, the febrile obsessions. It’s not unlike the indie equivalent of One Day, asking big questions about first love, the passage of time, and what happens if we don’t grab those teenage-love opportunities the first time around.’ Irish Independent

‘What a book!’ Giovanna Fletcher

‘A nostalgic journey through the highs and lows of first love.’ Guardian

‘An absolute gem – an enjoyable journey that’s a perfect summer read.’ Woman’s Way (Ireland)

‘This is an absolute gem. A perfect summer read.’ Daily Mirror

‘I LOVED IT, I LOVED IT, I LOVED IT. I cringed, I laughed, I yelled… I clutched my heart and swooned.’ Emily Koch, author of What July Knew

‘Laura Dockrill is a delicious writer, I Love You, I Love You, I Love You is glorious and tender, evocative and heart nourishing, I love this author and I love this beautiful book.’ Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death

 

Two Sisters (HQ, 2026)

Leonie and Nora couldn’t be less alike.

Leonie is brave and bold. She left the Isle of Pitte behind in search of adventure and swore she’d never return. Nora prefers the cosy embrace of home. And besides, one of them has to take some responsibility.

When her reckless lifestyle catches up with her, Leonie returns home to Pitte to recover in the comforting, cloying care of her younger sister. Instead, she’s surprised to find reliable, steadfast Nora is just as lost as she is.

Leonie and Nora have spent their lives certain they’ve nothing in common, but it seems they each have exactly what the other needs. And there’s no one who can heal you – or hurt you – quite like a sister.

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Publications

Selected Publications

Publication Details Notes
I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU 2024 HQ

It’s the year 2000.

Summer here in London is almost over. There are rumours the world is about to end, and yet my soft little universe is finally opening up, just getting started.

When I see him I fall through the ground. He’s just a boy but I am lost in a starburst galaxy. A rip tide. A hurricane. Sweet and delicious as crisp cherryade.

I’m on fire. I’m in love…with my best friend.

WHAT HAVE I DONE? 2020 Square Peg

This is a raw and honest memoir about being devastated by post-natal psychosis and coming through the other side.

Laura Dockrill had an idyllic pregnancy and couldn’t wait to meet her new baby. But as she went into labour things began to go wrong and Laura started to struggle. A traumatic birth, anxiety about the baby, sleep deprivation, a slow recovery – all these things piled up until Laura (like any new mum) felt overwhelmed.

As many as 8 out of 10 new mums struggle in the weeks after birth. In Laura’s case these feelings escalated scarily quickly into postnatal psychosis. She became paranoid and delusional and had to be institutionalised for a fortnight without her baby. Throughout this time she was haunted by a sense of: ‘What have I done?’, at first as she wondered if she could cope with her baby, and later because she was trying to grasp at reality as she slipped into nightmarish delusion.

Laura’s experience was devastating but this is a hopeful book. Not only has Laura slowly recovered she has come out the other side stronger and more assured about parenting on her own terms. Now she is determined to break the silence around post-natal mental health and with her story tell new parents: you are not alone.

Laura Dockrill
Laura Dockrill
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