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Posted By Jacob Hope,
20 September 2025
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The South Asian Illustration and Literature
Festival is returning for its second year and will take place at Tate Britain
on 27 September, 2025. We were delighted
to catch up with its pioneering co-founders Sinead Gosai, Chitra Soundar and Sanchita
Basu De Sarkar to discuss the event. Don’t
miss your opportunity to book tickets and to be part of this hugely exciting
and important festival.
Congratulations on the second year of
SAILfest, when and where will this year's festival be held and who's able to
attend this and how please?
SINEAD: For our second year, we’re proud to be working
with Tate Publishing, where we’ll host SAIL Fest in the Clore Auditorium at
Tate Britain on Saturday 27th September. Everyone is welcome, regardless of
your heritage - as long as you have an interest in children’s publishing. We
have a number of ticket options to suit all budgets and we’d love as many
authors, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, editors, agents etc to come
along and join the conversation on the day - either in person or virtually.
Can you tell us a bit about the background
to SAILfest?
SINEAD: Sanchita Basu De Sarkar came up with the idea and
initially approached Chitra and me to get involved. It’s something we’d all
been separately having conversations about and we just decided to get together and
get stuck in. It was honestly quite crazy looking back at how quickly we
managed to pull it all together. We’re all really passionate about uplifting
and championing our community and set out to create a safe space to do that
in.
SAILfest have been doing some fantastic
work since last year's inaugural festival, what have been some of the
highlights for you and why?
SINEAD: The buzz and excitement from the first festival
has been tough to beat, but we’ve continued to run small scale events
throughout the year - we hosted a networking event towards the end of last
year, as that was something a lot of attendees were keen on continuing to make
connections in person and online and earlier this year we ran our first online
book launch and virtual networking event. I think the highlight truly was
seeing the impact and how much having that space to get together and have honest
conversations and celebrate our successes and joys together really meant.
What are some of the highlights on this
year's programme and what can attendees expect if attending?
SINEAD: We have a brilliant line up this year,
exploring the barriers and possibilities in publishing. We have a debut panel,
a panel exploring how to sustain a career in the industry and a panel talking
about how to publicise and amplify our voices. We also have some interactive
creative sessions, a book launch and a networking evening. So it’s a pretty
jammed packed day. Book your SAILFest tickets here - https://www.sailfest.org.uk/sailfest2025
This year, we’re also so excited to be partnering with
The Barbican to host a special SAIL Fest family film club event for the public,
so bring your little readers along. You can register and book your tickets here.
This year's festival is in collaboration
with Tate publishing, how did that partnership come about and what value does
it add?
CHITRA: Tate’s senior commissioning Editor Cherise
Lopes-Baker had been on a panel at our first festival and she was instrumental
in championing the festival with her publishing team and brought us together
and we’re delighted to be able to collaborate on this year’s festival. The
space allows us to open our doors to even more delegates this year. It’s
heartening to work with a publisher who is keen to support our mission to
uplift those of South Asian heritage working across the kid lit space.
With the decline in publications reported
through Reflecting Realities and the closing of Tiny Owl publishers it feels
like we're entering a potentially more challenging time for diverse and
inclusive publishing. How important is it that librarians are part of the
conversations and what role are they able to play in the industry?
SANCHITA: It is increasingly concerning and something
we’re saddened to see. Librarians can be some of the most powerful advocates
for inclusive publishing, not only as gatekeepers of what gets into readers'
hands, but also as trusted voices in shaping demand and influencing systemic
change. This can be such a huge asset to publishers. When librarians are
intentionally stocking and promoting our books, it lets publishers know there's
an audience for our stories.
CHITRA: Libraries are the beating heart of any
community and having your local library advocate for you as an author can be so
powerful because they open the author and the book to a wider audience - not
just teachers and students but for the wider community. Librarians keep a
diverse range of books visible and celebrated with communities on the ground.
And through PLR, borrowing trends and library highlights, they are able to
advocate for inclusive books with data and evidence.
ALL: Don’t forget! Book your tickets to SAIL Fest 2025
here.
A big thank you to Sinead Gosai, Chitra Soundar and Sanchita Basu De Sarkar

Tags:
Books
Diversity
Festival
Illustration
Reading
Representation
South Asian
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
03 July 2025
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We are
delighted to welcome George Kirk to the blog to discuss her exciting debut
picture book Bessie’s Bees.
George is a teacher, librarian and author living in East Lancashire with
a passion for creating normative representation of neurodiverse characters
in books for young readers. Her first picture book Bessie’s Bees published
by Templar, is a neurodiverse picture book with an ADHD girl at its centre.
You know
the saying …
“We
lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.”
I bet you
do. I bet you love it.
But I don’t
agree with it!
Now don’t
get in a fluster and certainly don’t flap. Let me explain, and to do that let’s
start at the beginning…
‘George’s
head was full of bees, absolutely buzzing with them …”
I didn’t
know when I wrote my first draft of Bessie’s Bees that it was a
neurodiverse picture book- I suspected, but I wasn’t sure.
Having a
head full of bees was something I just used to say. One of those things I
thought that everyone felt sometimes like ‘having your head in the clouds’.
Only for me it wasn’t just some of the time, it was all the time.
I was that girl who grew up covered in bruises
and scabs, whose laces were always undone and whose hair was always in
knots. The girl who could never sit
still, ever be quiet and certainly didn’t fit in, apart from one place… the
library.
I grew up so
close to my local library I wasn’t very old before I was allowed to start
taking myself. It was my first taste of
freedom, walking in by myself, choosing whichever books I wanted and escaping
into them. I could write you a long list of which books I chose right here,
right now, but there just isn’t time, so let’s skip ahead to…
My
secondary school, an old-fashioned pile something like Hogwarts that sadly
didn’t have the library to match. Just a little room of books that had been
long forgotten about so long you needed Indiana Jones to find it, or my friend
Oggy. Oggy offered to revamp and run it
for the lower years and quickly roped me and a few others in. Before long we
transformed it into a vibrant hub of activity and creativity. We raised funds to
buy fresh stock so now I wasn’t just choosing books for myself, I was doing it
for others too.
It was the
first time I felt really connected to a group of like-minded people and it
inspired my first attempt at a serious novel. ‘Og the Librarian’ followed the
misadventures of Og, pupil librarian driven to madness by overdue books who
took on a life of human cannibalism… I never did find a publisher for it.
Aren’t
words brilliant? In just a few I can transport you 15 years into my future,
through university, quite frankly dodgy early lessons of a career in primary
teaching and propel you to my days as a parent of babies and toddlers. It was
isolating, I was trying and failing to connect again so where did I go?
The
library! But now I wasn’t satisfied with
just reading stories, I wanted to tell my own too. And the library let me,
encouraged me, they even let me be… GASP… LOUD!
Now, if you
have been keeping count you’ll know there’s one more to go. I left teaching, I
loved it, but it didn’t love me. My mental health was suffering, and I was
struggling to do the one thing I felt driven to do, write. So, when 8 years ago
the job of Library Manager came up at my local Grammar School I jumped at it,
and thankfully they seemed pretty happy to catch.
Yet again I
found myself building up a lively community of young people, creating a space
where anyone and everyone who wanted could fit. Many of them had neurodiversions,
and I was recognising my younger self in them more and more. I was beginning to
suspect that maybe not everybody did have bees in their head after all. So, as
I poured this idea into a story, I put myself forward for assessment and
discovered I didn’t just have bees, I had ADHBEES! Or coexisting Autism and
ADHD to be precise.
I was now
sure beyond a doubt that Bessie’s Bees was a neurodiverse story. In fact
it was the one that I had needed to read when I first stepped into the local
library by myself all those years ago.
So,
remember that saying? The one you love?
This is how
I think it really should go…
‘We lose ourselves in books and we find
ourselves in the library.’
A big thank
you to George for a fascinating guest blog!
You can follow George on Instagram @GeorgeKirkTales.

Tags:
diversity
libraries
neurodiversity
Picture books
picturebooks
reading
reading for pleasure
representation
school libraries
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
08 May 2025
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We are delighted to welcome award-winning Aoife
Dooley to the blog to talk about graphic novels, the formative role they
are able to play in children’s reading, in developing empathy and understanding, representation and to introduce her
fantastically fun new series Squid Squad.
I’m Aoife Dooley and I’m an illustrator and Writer from Dublin Ireland. My main
focus is creating graphic novels and stories for kids age 5-14 and doing
workshops on how to create your own stories.
Over the past couple of years Graphic Novels have come a long way and have begun
to boom in popularity particularly in the UK and Ireland. Kids and teens are
being introduced to a new way of storytelling and reading. For some, it’s the
first book they’ve ever read and maybe the one that will give them the
confidence to continue to read more.
Graphic novels are magic!
When I was younger, I felt like reading wasn’t for me. I tried over and over
again to read novels and keep up with my class but the words just went in the
front of my brain and back out the other side. I found it hard to follow a
story without pictures. All the words squeezed together on a page. It doesn’t
really look appealing to me, especially when I can read a book with pictures.
With pictures my brain can follow a story easier and I’m more likely to
remember it, because I learn visually. This is something I only realised much
later in life as I discovered I am autistic. But back then reading was hard and
learning was hard too.
This was in the 90’s and 00’s and graphic novels at the time weren’t considered
books. I had never seen a comic before until one day I decided to read the
local newspaper in my grandparents’ house. Something on the front cover caught
my attention and I decided to look through. I came across a section with
drawings and stories. These stories where in little boxes and short. There were
three different stories and the excitement I felt when I realised that there
was a new one every day. My grandad would be looking for the newspaper to read
the sports section and I would be hiding in the bathroom reading the comics.
Later I was introduced to Calvin and Hobbes by my aunty. I was 11 and we
were shopping in London and she showed me this book. It was like the comics
from the newspaper but in a giant book (almost bigger than me at the time). At
this point I don’t think I had read a book and being able to read this gave me
the confidence to read more books like Jaqueline Wilson for example.
How graphic novels can make a difference
I noticed over the years how books are changing and there’s more and more
representation, I also noticed that more teachers and librarians are getting
behind graphic novels and I think this is amazing and here is why- when I was younger,
I never found any characters like me, someone I could relate to, someone who
felt familiar.
This would have been a massive help when I was a kid to feel seen, because I
didn’t for a long time like many other kids and I felt lost. Now there are an
array of different graphic novels around many topics. I have seen the power of
this personally from doing workshops with kids and how being able to relate to
someone fictional or not can make you feel seen and not alone, how it can build
community and friendships. I think this is so important now more than ever with
social media. It’s already hard growing up. Introducing kids to books and
things or people you think they will relate to can open up a whole world that’s
yet to be discovered.
Graphic novels also give the opportunity for kids who learn visually to follow
with everyone else and not get lost easily and feel like reading is not for
them. Reading graphic novels as part of a group setting can open up discussions
and bring up topics that are important to learn while growing up Including how
to treat people and learning about people, differences and breaking down
stereotypes.
Squid Squad
Creating Squid Squad was super fun and a completely different
experience. Drawing people (oh I don’t think I’ll ever be able to draw the
perfect hand, after 10 years that is still the hardest thing) but drawing sea
creatures? It gave me some more freedom for movement and whacky posture and I
enjoyed this a lot. This is also true for creating a fictional world and this
was something new to me as a lot of the things I’ve done in the past have been
based or loosely based on real places.
You can see this in my previous book Frankie’s World and if you’re from
Dublin or know Dublin you will spot a few things. The book is set in the deep
see in a town called ‘nowhere’ - which is literally in the middle of nowhere.
Ollie and Zing are the main characters and live in a trailer together just outside
the town with their pet sea anemone Barney. Ollie is a vampire Squid and Zing
is a type of Sea slug (aka sea bunny) because he has little bunny ears. These
are based on some deep sea creatures and I’ve included more throughout the book
including an angler fish.
I also created some fun ‘undiscovered’ characters like Snakey Unicorn Thing who
has yet to be spotted by humans. The book is split into 4 short stories or
episodes following the characters from the town, the mysteries they solve and
the bonds that they make. Friendship is a big theme in the book and being true
to yourself (like Zing, Zing is my spirit animal, we all need to be more like
Zing).
A huge thank you to Aoife for the blog and to Scholastic for the
opportunity.

Attached Thumbnails:
Tags:
Graphic Novels
Reading
Reading for Pleasure
Representation
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
29 November 2024
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The Centre
for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has released the 7th annual
Reflecting Realities Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s
Literature showing that 17% of children’s books published in 2023 feature a
racially minoritised character. While this demonstrates a significant increase
from the 4% first reported in 2017, it is the first year that the survey has
shown an annual decrease, down from 30% in 2022. This decrease is also echoed
in the percentage of racially minoritised main characters,
down 7 percentage points from 14% in 2022 to 7% in 2023.
Using the detailed methodology established in the first
year of this work, the Reflecting Realities survey reports on racially
minoritized characters included in fiction, non-fiction and picturebooks aimed
at readers age 3-11.
For the first time this year, minoritised
presence in fiction is down year on year - from 24% in 2022 to 11% in
2023. Fiction is also the text type which has seen much slower growth
than non-fiction and picturebooks and these figures represent a significant
widening of the gap. This is echoed in the presence reported in non-fiction
- down from 30% in 2022 to 22% in 2023. This marks the second drop in
a row after a sustained increase in the first five reports.
Picturebooks continue to have the highest proportion of
presence across the three text types. Despite reporting a decrease of 9
percentage points in 2022 to 52% this cycle has seen a slight increase
with 55% of picturebook titles published in 2023 featuring characters from
racially minoritised backgrounds within their casts.
Farrah Serroukh Executive
Director of Research and Development, CLPE said: ‘The
ethical imperative should go without saying. However, beyond this the principle
of inclusion simply makes books better. Through every annual review of the last
seven years we have had the privilege of being treated to stories, characters,
writing and worlds that have elevated the literary landscape, enriched the
culture and transformed reading experiences. This can only be a good thing for
the publishing industry and with the appropriate investment can have positive
commercial and reputational implications. We encourage the industry to take the
lessons learned and remain steadfast in their commitment to reflecting
realities and serving their readership.’
Rebecca Eaves, Chief Executive, CLPE said:
‘A
mere 12 months ago, we could be forgiven for looking at the results of the
6th Reflecting Realities report and congratulating ourselves on a
collective job well done. These most recent, more sobering results,
particularly after a summer of racially motivated riots, remind us that the job
is far from done. It's more important than ever that all children can see
themselves and those that look like them in the books they read. CLPE, with
ongoing funding from the Arts Council England, will continue to support and
champion our partners across the publishing industry in their commitment to
make this a reality.’
The annual CLPE survey was launched in 2018 and has
been funded by Arts Council England since its inception. The core aim of the
survey is to determine the extent and quality of representation of racially
minoritised characters featured within picturebooks, fiction and non-fiction
for ages 3-11 published in the UK. Taken together, the 7 years of reporting
provide an invaluable standard benchmark and guidance for the industry to
evaluate output.

Tags:
Children's Books
Diversity
Inclusion
Reading
Reflecting Realities
Representation
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
09 September 2021
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We are delighted to provide an update about Happy Here an anthology from 20 of our best Black British writers and illustrators. Happy Here will form the focus of an exciting panel that closes the YLG Virtual Conference this year (details here) we are thrilled to have the chance to welcome Jasmine Richards, Yome Ṣode and Clare Weze in conversation with publisher Amée Felone. Read below for an exciting update!
This week, every primary school in England will
receive a free copy of Happy Here, a new anthology from 20 of our
best Black British writers and illustrators. Published by inclusive
publisher Knights Of, Happy Here includes stories and poems
which explore themes of joy, home and family through a wide range of genres and
styles. The initiative is part of a wider long-term programme of research and
activity led by the children’s reading charity BookTrust and The Centre for
Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) to empower changes in teaching practice
and improve representation in children's literature and publishing.
Alongside this, BookTrust and CLPE are supporting
schools with a range of resources and events designed to help teachers share a
love of reading and writing with children and give them a rich and diverse
learning experience by bringing inclusive and representative stories into the
classroom:
· All schools are
invited to attend a free online event with celebrated children's author Joseph
Coelho, hosted by BookTrust on 13th October as part of Black History
Month.
· CLPE are providing
a free teaching sequence for Key Stage 2, to support schools in the study and
enjoyment of Happy Here as part of their Literacy Curriculum.
· CLPE will deliver
online sessions for teachers to learn more about the importance of
representation in the classroom.
· BookTrust has
provided an additional 50 free copies of Happy Here to 100
schools with a minimum of 25% of pupils receiving free school meals.
The Happy Here initiative follows
the publication in 2020 of BookTrust Represents’ Interim Research and CLPE’s
annual Reflecting Realities Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK
Children’s Literature, which highlighted the under-representation of children’s
authors and illustrators of colour, and of minority ethnic characters within
children’s books, respectively.
Having the opportunity to engage with an author
through a school visit inspires children by bringing their favourite stories
and characters to life and also gives access to diverse role models. Schools
are invited to sign up for a FREE virtual school session with Joseph Coelho on
13th October visit https://www.booktrust.org.uk/happy-here
To sign up for CLPE’s FREE teaching sequence and to
find out more about their online CPD to support the study and enjoyment
of Happy Here visit https://clpe.org.uk/news/free-copy-happy-here-all-primary-schools-and-free-teaching-resources-and-cpd-partnership

Tags:
Black History Month
Conference
Diversity
Reading
Reading for Pleasure
Representation
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
03 February 2021
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The month of February is Black History Month in the United
States of America. The month was chosen
to coincide with National Freedom Day (February 1st), the anniversary
of the 13th Amendment which saw the abolition of slavery and with the
birthday of abolitionist and writer, Frederick Douglass. The month offers an opportunity to celebrate
the contributions African Americans have made to society and a point to reflect
upon the continuing need and struggle for racial justice. We are delighted to welcome Lauren Burke to
the blog. Lauren is a writer and editor
from Chicago, Illinois. Her work focuses on women’s history, travel, and
classic literature. Lauren’s book
It’s Her Story: Rosa Parks is a
graphic novel exploring the life and achievements of Rosa Parks, courageous
thinker, leader and social justice activist.
We are delighted to feature a preview on the blog exploring some of
Lauren’s influences and thoughts on writing an incredibly important book which
deserves a place on every bookshelf, whether in homes or libraries…
I remember learning about Rosa Parks in elementary school. It was Black History
Month, and I could feel my cheeks burning in response to our lesson on Jim Crow
laws and segregation. It’s not easy being one of the few students of colour in
class, especially when your teacher wants to make an example of you. That day,
she needed volunteers to reenact that infamous moment in 1955 when Rosa Parks
was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white
passenger. Her gaze was pointed when she asked who would play Rosa.
The
scene was brief. No more than three minutes. The lecture following was even
shorter. Our teacher explained that this simple act of defiance inspired the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which kicked off a movement to end segregation in the
United States. No time for reflection or questions, we then moved on to maths.
Black literature and history were not integrated into the regular curriculum.
Instead, we hurdled through the key figures and moments at breakneck speed
during the month of February. At school, I received a disjointed and broad view
of African American history, with a focus on moments of inspiration rather than
struggle. At home, I received a very different sort of education.
“They won’t tell
you this in school…” is how my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles began a
lot of sentences. What usually followed was an uncomfortable truth, a painful
memory, or lesson. In my experience, Black history is mostly an oral history
passed down in the community via elders. Once, at a National Association for
the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) event, my father instructed me to
pay close attention to a speaker who began their talk by saying, “They won’t
tell you this in school, but Rosa Parks was a radical.”
Twelve years before arrest, Rosa Parks became the Montgomery branch secretary of
the NAACP. Amongst many other things, Parks was in charge of documenting and
investigating acts of violence committed against Black women. She painstakingly
collected statements and evidence to put pressure on law enforcement, who in
turn, dismissed her. Parks campaigned for anti-lynching laws, and created the
NAACP Youth Council, which she ran out of her own home. She was also the Stacey Abrams of her day.
Parks was passionate about battling voter suppression and ran multiple
campaigns to register as many new voters as possible. The hours were long and
unpaid. She worked nights and weekends, received death threats, and saw very
little success. Rosa Parks had many low moments, she was often discouraged and
overwhelmed. And yet, she persisted.
Two
years ago, I began writing a graphic novel for children about the life of Rosa
Parks. At first, I struggled. It was a daunting task to reduce a life to 44
pages. For every line you write, there are 10,000 left unsaid. To tell the
story of Rosa Parks, you have to tell the story of America’s dark and complex
relationship with racial inequality and that story is bigger than one book.
It’s larger than one lesson plan. And it deserves more than one month. Early
on, I decided that It’s Her Story: Rosa Parks would
celebrate a lifetime of activism verses a single moment. And that we would
depict late nights, setbacks, and moments of doubt so that children like my
daughter learn that while change is possible, it doesn’t happen overnight. You
have to put in the work.
On
inauguration day, I found myself thinking about Rosa Parks while Amanda Gorman
recited her poem The Hill We Climb. I was particularly moved by the line,
“Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply
unfinished.” For me, it serves as a reminder that we are not honoring the
legacy of people like Rosa Parks, unless we step in to finish what they
started. I sincerely hope that it means the same for President Biden, who had a
bust of Rosa Parks placed in his office on his first day of work.
The book is illustrated by Shane Clester and
publishes with Sunbird Books on 7 May 2021.
For further information visit www.sunbirdkidsbooks.com ISBN 978-1-5037-5294-8
A
big thank you to Lauren Burke for the blog piece and to Sunbird Books and Nicky
Potter for the opportunity.

Attached Thumbnails:
Tags:
History
Raising Voices
Reading
Reading for Pleasure
Representation
Social Justice
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
02 February 2021
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We are delighted to welcome Joan Haig to the
blog. Joan is the author of Tiger Skin Rug and lives in the
Scottish Borders but grew up in Zimbabwe and has lived and travelled all around
the world. Joan editing Stay at Home! a collection of poetry
and prose that provide different takes on life in lockdown and which contains
the work of 40 different contributors.
In this post Joan introduces us to Tiger
Skin Rug and the ways in which her academic researched have influenced
this.
I have just moved further into the countryside, meriting access to a mobile
library – a jolly bus filled with books. I’m looking forward to using this
service: when I lived in the city, aside from toddler read-and-sing-along
sessions and volunteering for my local school, my library usage had been utilitarian,
in support of my part-time work in academia.
A few years ago I
started writing for children. If I’m lucky, this will bring many more visits to
libraries for events and book borrowing. To be a writer, after all, you have to
read, read and read some more. While writing a novel for 8-12 year-olds, I read
stacks of kids’ books, but I also drew heavily on academic literature and my
own ethnographic research into migration and ideas of home and belonging.
Tiger Skin Rug (Cranachan Publishing) is the story of two boys who move
from India to Scotland. The values and cultural references coursing through the
book stem from many years’ worth of research in the form of archival digs, conversations,
data gathering and time spent engaging in daily lives and customs of Hindu
families in Zambia. Writing an ethnography is, by definition, ‘writing culture’
and the process demands a degree of immersion within a group, of which the
ethnographer is most likely an outsider. It also demands ‘self reflexivity’:
this is an awareness of the affect of one’s self as an outside researcher on
the situation, and a sensitivity towards all those within that situation. An
ethnographer is not objective but will seek to provide an authentic narrative.
A good ethnography will therefore never be reductive, and will embrace
complexity.
Tiger Skin Rug confronts the same big issues tackled in my research
(migration, identity, ideas of home, the intersections of privilege and
prejudice), but for a different, younger and distinctly more important,
readership. I didn’t want to shy away from tricky ideas for children, but rather
wanted to invite in lots of different ways of thinking about one thing – the meaning
of home. My interest in home, particularly relating to migration and how
children experience migration, reflects my own life experiences. It also
reflects my deep concern that people in all manner of contexts continue to
exclude others based on ideas and perceptions of place, authenticity and
belonging – ideas and perceptions that often confuse or conflate ethnicity and
nationality, race and class.
My current academic remit strongly resists attitudes that hinder cultural
exchange and understanding. I am part of a global study abroad college where I sit
on a working group for the college JEDI team. JEDI here stands for Justice,
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The ‘Empire’ we are fighting is not, however,
in a galaxy far, far away: we are plotting to decolonise the curriculum and revamp
training to ensure fairness and representation for all. My next book is a
nonfiction title coauthored with Joan Lennon. Talking History: 150 Years of
Speeches (Templar Publishing, out July 2021) offers children a range
of voices and political stories from around the world.
Writing for children, in turn, has influenced the way I think about my academic
work. It has opened up teaching possibilities and allowed me to make new
literary and theoretical connections. Supporting students’ learning and
independent research projects often involves directing them to relevant books
and articles. Increasingly, I find myself recommending fiction, too – which provides
me with the perfect excuse to visit that mobile library.
A big thank you to Joan Haig for a fascinating blog and to Cranachan Publishing for the opportunity.

Tags:
Diversity
Reading
Reading for Pleasure
Representation
Research
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
14 January 2021
|
We are pleased to
welcome C G Moore to the blog to talk about his new verse novel Gut Feelings. The book is based upon his own experiences
with familial adenomatous polyposis and is told in verse and has special visual
designs by Becky Chilcott. The book is published
by UCLan Publishing.
Authors often find
their second novel quite challenging, did you experience this?
It
was almost the contrary. I found it
quite easy to write. What was difficult
was knowing what form to tell the story in.
Once that was figured out, it flowed very naturally. I have a lot of stories inside my head and
this one felt very personal because it is my own story. I felt it translated well in free-verse.
What was it about
free verse which felt to fit the project?
I’ve
always struggled to communicate my illness because it affects very few people
in the world. On average only 1 in
50,000 people have familial adenomatous polyposis. Outside my family, I’ve never met anyone else
with it. When I have to explain this to friends
or lovers, there are many aspects to communicate. There is the science of the condition, the
psychological impact on me and also how it can affects me as a gay man. In order to communicate this succinctly, I
wanted to pack as much feeling into it as possible. The only medium that allowed this was
verse. I wanted to strip back everything
that was unnecessary and create layers of meaning within each individual poem,
but also in the ways these linked and created the story arc.
Why did
representing chronic illness fell important to you?
When
you’ve got chronic illness and it is invisible, it can be very difficult for
people to see there is anything wrong, or to recognise this. If it affects your bowel or is urinary,
people don’t always see or understand that.
Representation in books for young people is important in helping to
build more empathetic readers leading to more understanding and
compassion. I hope people might have a
better understanding of how chronic illness can impact on people’s day to day
lives. I wanted people to understand
what my mum, my grandad and I went through.
How experimental
did you feel you could be with the poems?
I
felt like I had a blank canvas in terms of free verse, but not in terms of
poetry. There were some poems that were
in there that I liked, but which didn’t really fit with the other poems. An early poem was a sestina. I wanted to make the poetry accessible. There is an evolution in the way that the
poems are told from my younger self to the point at which I’m at now. There’s a progression of form, of ideas and
content.
Becky Chilcott has
done a fantastic job on designing the book, can you tell us a little about this
please?
As
I was writing each poem, I had ideas in mind as to how some wanted to be ‘form’
or ‘shape’ poems. I wanted some to
reflect the theme or subject. I worked
with my editor to look at ways that we could be experimental. Initially we thought this would be using the
letters from an individual word to create images relating to the poems. Becky Chilcott the designer was given a lot
of creative control, we wanted to give as much free reign so that the design
gave additional meaning through the visuals which hopefully will draw new
readers in.
Can you tell us
what you are working on now?
Although
I haven’t experienced second book syndrome, I feel a little like I now have
third book syndrome! During the
pandemic, trying to balance work, publicity for my books and freelance projects
has meant it has been hard to find time and space to write. The third book is set in the Bible Belt in
America in a little town in Texas. I
don’t think I can say any more than that it until I’ve submitted it to my publisher!
Good luck to C G Moore and thank you for
the interview.

Tags:
Chronic Illness
Raising Voices
Reading
Representation
Verse Novel
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
07 August 2020
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We were delighted to interview picture book author and illustrator Rose Robbins for the blog. Rose has written two books for Scallywag Press and is an Inclusion Ambassador with Inclusive Minds.
Please can we ask you to introduce yourself?
I first started making stories and comics when I was very young, it was so early in my life that can’t quite put an exact date on it. When I was sixteen I started printing my own comics out and giving them to friends, I was immensely proud. I grew up in a very arty household so going to study illustration always felt right to me. I did my foundation year at Suffolk college (now University Campus Suffolk) and then went on to study illustration at UWE in Bristol. I spent a lot of my early career in illustration and writing making self published comics, I loved the freedom, and I really enjoyed being part of what was then a growing DIY community. I stopped making comics quite suddenly, for various reasons (time and money being major factors), and after a year or so I applied to do the Masters in Children’s Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. I was studying part-time and working part-time, it was a very intense two years, but I learned so much about the craftsmanship of picture books.
During the MA, I was working on an activity picture book about frogs with Proceso in Mexico, which was published towards the end of my course. This book is probably my favourite in terms of art-style, it is very loose and messy! It is currently only available in Spanish. My final piece for the MA was my picture book Elena’s Shells, a story about a Tapir with hoarding tendencies, and a little hermit crab. This was picked up and published by Starfish Bay in Australia.
It wasn’t until after I graduated and attended the Bologna Book Fair in 2017 that I met my wonderful agent Alice Williams, who has supported me wonderfully through my career since.
My most well known books were both published by Scallywag Press, who had not yet emerged as a fully formed publisher at the time that I entered negotiations with the founder Sarah Pakenham. Sarah was interested in my concept of a book about siblings, and wanted to develop something. I worked with Sarah, Janice Thompson (my editor) and book designer Sarah Finan to produce Me and My Sister and Talking is Not My Thing!.
Can you tell us a little about the brother and sister in Me and My Sister, the sibling relationship feels a very simple but massively effective way of allowing organic consideration of the differences between the pair?
The brother and sister in the books are largely based on me and my own autistic brother. There are key moments in the book that I have taken directly from my childhood, such as the image of the sister in her bedroom, looking at toys under her duvet, while the brother looks on. At first I wasn’t sure a wider audience would be able to relate to the story, as it is quite specific (not only is the sister autistic, but she is also non verbal). However, I have since met with a number of another siblings, adult and children alike, who feel recognised and validated by the representation.
Talking is Not My Thing makes sensitively shows non-verbal communication, picture books feel an ideal medium for this, do you feel there is a particular role for illustrations to play as part of this?
Yes, in fact I had toyed with the idea of making the book without words at all! But somewhere in writing “Me and My Sister” I fell in love with the simple language of picture books, which is as much about rhythm as content. I think it is important for the illustrations to be interesting and fun, as well as suiting the story. With non-verbal communication, there are so many visual themes to play with, I might have to write a follow up book to explore more of them!
Can you explain about how you approach creating a picture book?
I always start with the characters. I will sketch and refine characters for weeks before I am happy with them, and along the way a story will usually take form. A lot of my process is trial and error, sometimes I will come up with a concept while drawing, but then find that it doesn’t work when written down as a draft. I also make very messy thumbnails and drafts, then usually a few different versions of the finished product before sending it on to the designer (Sarah Finan in the case of my books with Scallywag, a brilliantly talented illustrator as well as designer). I work mostly in Ink, with watercolor brushes, then I edit and arrange digitally.
You are an Inclusion Ambassador with Inclusive Minds can you tell us a little bit about your work with them and how this has affected your own creative processes?
I got involved with Inclusive Minds right after I graduated from my MA, I had followed them online for some time, and really wanted to be part of what they were doing. Working with them has taught me the importance of authentic representation in children’s literature, and that there can be a place for everyone in the book world if we start listening. I think I am also a lot more open to criticism now, I used to take it all very personally, but now I realise that making a book is a collaborative process.
You created visual notes to document Inclusive Minds' A Place at the Table this feels a really exciting and dynamic way of capturing discussions and meetings, what do you think the benefits are of visual note-taking and should they be used more?
I have always found it much easier to imagine and recall visual information as opposed to words and sounds, so visual note taking is very natural for me.Visual note taking allows content to make an immediate impression on an audience, which is very helpful for people who do not naturally like to read through long articles. I think that images can provide a doorway into further learning, as well as being good reminders of already held knowledge. I don’t think they work for everyone, as images cannot be read out or converted into audio in the way that text can (making them inaccessible to some), but for visual thinkers like me they are the natural way to record and communicate information. I think that we are seeing a general rise in visual communication (GIF reactions for instance), and I think it would be wonderful if students were able to choose to make visual notes for School assignments.
Which illustrators (and authors if appropriate) did you enjoy as a child and are there any that have helped influence your style or approach?
There are so many! I have a particular love of American picture books from the 60’s and 70’s, as these were the books that we had from when my mum was growing up in California. I love all of Maurice Sendak’s books and illustrations, they are all so beautiful. William Steig had quite a big influence on me stylistically, with his wobbly lines and animal characters. I also love his writing, it is so sweet and life-affirming. Russell Hoban is another writer that I love, both his books for children and adults, although some of his work for children is quite traumatising (see: The Mouse and His Child). Then of course there is Tove Jansson, an absolute legend. I think a similarity between all of the books that I grew up loving is that they do not shy away from the darker subjects. Childhood is not all fun and playtime, and I think it is important that children have books that reflect the complexities of growing up.
You were awarded the Best New Blood at the D&AD graduate fair and were runner-up in the Carmelite prize in 2017, how useful are awards of this kind when starting out your career?
Well, I think prizes can be a great confidence boost, and can certainly look very good on your CV. I really don’t know what effect the awards that I have received have had on my career, perhaps they legitimise my work in some way and that has led to some success. However, I know illustrators who have never won any prizes, and yet are brilliant and successful. Competitions can also have the effect of excluding people who do not have the time or money to enter. I think that making the publishing industry more accessible as a whole would be infinitely more beneficial to authors and illustrators than using prizes as a means to an end.
What is next for you?
I have a new book coming out in March 2021 with Scallywag Press called LOUD! - You can expect new characters, action, adventure, and even a musical number!
I have always been inspired by Judith Kerr, she kept on making children’s books right into her nineties! I hope to do the same.
Thank you to Rose for her time and brilliant answers!

Attached Thumbnails:
Tags:
Autism
Illustration
Raising Voices
Reading
Representation
Visual Literacy
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Posted By Jacob Hope,
16 June 2020
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C. G. Moore's debut novel, Fall Out, publishes this Thursday. Written for Young Adults, the book focuses on sixteen-year-old Cal Adams and the aftermath of his, not-so-much 'coming out' as falling out and the fall out this causes with his family, friends and foes. We are delighted to welcome C. G. Moore (Chris), to the blog as he talks to us about his early encounters with gay representation.
My earliest memory of seeing a gay character on the television was during an episode of Will and Grace when I was about eleven or twelve. I didn’t get the jokes. I didn’t really understand the subtext of what was happening but I knew that Will and Jack were gay. When I looked at them, I didn’t see myself. I saw stereotypes – gay men that were presented as being hyper feminine; didn’t want to mess up their hair, flicked their wrists, sashayed when they walked. Still, it was more than I saw in the books I was reading. I stopped reading at this age. For a variety of reasons but key to this was not being able to see myself in the books I read. Not a cipher. Not a stereotype. Not a supporting character. It wasn’t until I was eighteen, the age when I finally accepted that I was gay, that I read David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. I have a special place in my heart for the book because it was the first time that I remembered seeing a gay protagonist. I craved the world that Paul lived in, how everyone was so accepting at school and his relationship with Noah. I was always a bit of a low-key romantic at heart.
Today, LGBTQ+ creators and stars are in a position where they can subvert stereotypes and show multi-faceted aspects of our community. In film, TV and books, we see the complexities of character rather than ones that are boxed in by their sexuality. When I wrote Fall Out, I wanted to contribute to the stories which reflected LGBTQ+ experiences, continuing discussions around LGBTQ+ issues and people. I wanted to write the world I grew up in; one where I was bullied on a daily basis; one that I wanted to escape so desperately. Today, I have come out of the other side, but the pain of adolescence still lives with me, sticks to me, is lodged deep down in places too tricky to extract. I wanted to use that pain to represent the world I grew up in and offer hope; I wanted gay teenage boys to read Fall Out and see themselves represented.

Tags:
Debut
Diversity
LGBTQ
Reading
Reading for Pleasure
Representation
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