Laura Dockrill

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.

I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU (HQ)

Ella and Lowe are teenagers when they first meet. For her, it’s love at first sight. But it’s also safest to love from afar, where the friendship zone is her safety net and she can’t get hurt.

Over the next fifteen years, Ella and Lowe share everything: grief, laughter, friendship, bottles of cider, cigarettes in the rain. But there’s one thing Ella can never ask him: whether he feels the same way about her. And every time Lowe kisses another girl, Ella feels her heart break just that little bit more.

So can you ever really just be friends with the love of your life? And what happens when the day comes when you can’t keep the beautiful, terrifying, all-consuming truth to yourself anymore?

From a unique new voice in adult fiction, I Love You, I Love You, I Love You is a glorious nostalgia trip for anyone who has ever known the exquisite pain and pleasure of first love.

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

Praise for WHAT HAVE I DONE?

‘A book to save a whole generation of women.’ Adele

‘I just want to hug you! Such a raw, honest and important book.’ Giovanna Fletcher

‘A humblingly honest and human war-report from the front lines of mothering, psychosis and recovery: there is no other book like it, and it is so desperately needed.’ Caitlin Moran

‘Thank you for this book, for shining a light on the darkness of psychosis, an illness that absolutely does happen to people like us. I found this book a balm for my soul, and am grateful to Laura for bravely penning such a beautiful account of an illness that is rarely talked about.’ Bryony Gordon

‘Your story is a generous, humane, brave gift of a book. Its guts and humour spoke to me loud and clear. I wept for you, women I love, and ones I’ve never met, many times throughout. There’s a conspiracy of silence around so many of areas of birth and new motherhood, and you are breaking the glass ceiling of it, with glorious honesty, humour and humility. I salute you - you’re a fucking warrior!’ Sophie Dahl

‘Moving, a pleasure to read… I couldn’t put it down.’ Philippa Perry 

‘I was overwhelmed with relief to read this. A must-read for anyone who didn’t have the fairytale.’ Paloma Faith

‘IT IS AMAZING, YOU ARE AMAZING. This book is proof that although your mind was your undoing it is also a truly incredible asset which is going to help so so many people.’ Clemmie Teleford

'Mind blowing.' Lemn Sissay

‘Laura’s raw, honest book gest to the core of postpartum psychosis.’ Dr Jessica Heron, CEO of Action on Postpartum Psychosis

‘I’ve cried, laughed and cried again… I’m SO GLAD you wrote it, it’s therapeutic to read. It’s bloody amazing. I know it will also help to raise awareness and help people to understand what it’s like to go through this shit. And see light at the end of the tunnel and know you won’t always feel like this.’ Jessica Hunt, a post-partum psychosis survivor

‘You have created such a raw, powerful, visceral account of your experience with PP and it's such an important story to hear.’ Isabelle, a midwife

‘I absolutely loved this book. It’s so honest I related to the rawness of it all. There was so much I could identify with.’ Helen Grimes, postpartum psychosis survivor

‘A seminal work which will help people worldwide who identify with Laura’s terrifying experience.’ Karen Levi, psychotherapist

‘A lot of people will benefit from reading this.’ Kathryn Grant, postpartum psychosis survivor

‘An amazing read. This book is a comfort to women recovering who read it and realise that all their crazy mad ass thoughts were the illness; and not themselves.’ Fiona Tel, postpartum psychosis survivor