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

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has released the 7^th 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.

Maisie Chan is the winner of the 2022 Branford Boase award with her brilliantly funny and thoughtful Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths.  We were delighted to talk with Maisie about her writing and about the award.

What was your journey to becoming an author?

It’s been a long journey!

I guess I had an epiphany when my mum passed away in 2003. I remember telling someone I wanted to ‘write books!’ but I had no idea where to begin. Three years later, I began with short stories and flash fiction for adults. I felt that was a good place to begin as the form is short and I could then move onto novels. I have to say that I was immensely scared of writing a novel and didn’t try to write one for years. I felt it was too big a hurdle and that I was not ready for the task. I also wanted to write a memoir, however, I remember someone telling me that I was ‘too young’ to write a memoir. At the time, I didn’t agree, I felt I had a lot to say about my life. Yet, they were right in terms of my writing ability. I was still very much learning to become a writer. I had support from Writing West Midlands.

I had some short stories published and lead creative writing workshops for adults and children, but I still didn’t write a novel until I became a mentee on the inaugural Megaphone scheme with mentor Leila Rasheed back in 2016. I’d had some time away to have children and had hardly written a thing for five years but felt that this was a great opportunity for me to get back to what mattered to me, which was writing. I had wanted to try writing for children after a librarian had told me my ‘voice’ suited children’s and Y.A. I thought I would give it a go. The year I spent as a Megaphone mentee was brilliant. We had masterclasses from Patrice Lawrence (just before Orange Boy was published!), Catherine Johnson, Candy Gourlay, Alex Wheatle and more. We got to speak to editors and agents, and we had a showcase at the London Book Fair. I wrote a novel for teens called Looking For Lily Wong and landed my first agent soon after I finished writing it.

During the time I was editing my teen novel, I felt something just wasn’t working and put it aside. My agent asked me if I had any middle grade ideas and I pitched her Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths (which was then called Lychees and Bingo Balls). She liked the idea, and I wrote it. A year later we went on submission, and it was picked up by Piccadilly Press in a two-book deal and it was bought by Amulet in the States a few weeks later. I thought Danny Chung might do better in the States than in the U.K. because there hadn’t been many (or any) titles published here for that age group by or for British Chinese people. I wasn’t sure there was going to be a readership. But I’m glad to say I was wrong!

Can you introduce us to Danny Chung please?

Danny is eleven-years-old and is a young artist. He loves drawing comics and getting his friend Ravi to help with the speech bubbles. It’s an activity that makes them laugh and one where they can be truly themselves. He also uses drawing to vent his frustrations and to work out things going on in his life.

Danny lives above a Chinese takeaway with his parents. They want him to do well at school, and in their eyes that means being good at maths and other subjects. His mum’s best friend, Auntie Yee is always comparing him to Amelia Yee who is good at everything. This makes Danny feel bad.

Danny also wants to be part of a ‘cool’ group of boys who play physical games (scooting and shooting their foam pellet guns around the park) rather than the more imaginative activities that he and Ravi partake in. And to make things worse, he’s got a math presentation and his gran from China moves in. No-one has told him this is going to happen, so it’s the worse surprise he can think of getting. Danny has a lot of personal challenges to overcome in the book.

He's a regular boy on one hand. But he’s also a British Chinese boy too and so there are things about his family’s situation and lifestyle which are uniquely British Chinese. My main concern when writing him was making him relatable. He’s got wants and desires like any eleven-year-old boy whose parents hope they’ll to be a certain way, but he has his own path to follow.

The relationship between Danny and his grandmother, Nai Nai, is beautifully realised and is often very funny, was it challenging creating the dynamic between the pair when language is a barrier for them?

Well, yes and no. My concern for Nai Nai was that I wanted her to inhabit the space in the book without speaking much and so she is very physical in how she moves, and her actions speak volumes. I wanted readers to ‘see’ her in their minds clearly when they read the book and she is by far the most beloved character. I have a lot of experience in real life of staying with people or communicating with others who don’t speak the same language as me. I lived in Taipei for a while and I was the one who was the outsider, who couldn’t speak the language and would smile and point at things. You find that you can use your body, your expressions and your hands for communication when language is a barrier, so I put all of that into the novel. There may be the occasional blip too and you can see that in the scene were Danny takes Nai Nai to the bowling green and there is an incident with a large fruit. It made me laugh to write those kinds of scenes and I think people have enjoyed the humour of the book, but it was hard not to make Nai Nai into a caricature. She is based on a few older women that I know, grandmothers and mothers who do spit out lychee seeds into buckets, or who bash watermelons with their palms. Women who want to show their love by feeding you and feeding you some more.

The book is written in first person, so we see things form Danny’s point of view and I think he was meaner to her in the earlier drafts.  My editor helped me to bring out Danny’s feelings about his grandmother more, but to have him less stroppy. She said he also needed to be likeable! I think the tricky part was making him dislike her for taking up space in his life, rather than disliking her for being ‘foreign’ – I didn’t want readers to see her to ‘other’ even though she is newly-arrived, so that was a challenge and I hope it worked. In the scene with the chicken feet this came to the forefront – I didn’t want Danny to be embarrassed by the food, he loves the food she brought to school. He wanted to eat it. He’s embarrassed that she’s shown up to school. Little things like that were important for me. I’ve seen books where Chinese food is posited as ‘disgusting’. It’s about showing the relationship between them as a bridge between generations and cultures. I had a lot of worries about representation when writing it. I wanted to centre a British Chinese character, he’s from the diaspora and so it’s almost a third space. Non-Chinese people might see him as an outsider even though he’s British, Chinese from Asia don’t see him as fully Chinese because he can’t speak the language. It’s a precarious place to be.

Danny finds self-expression through his art, did you have any means for release when you were growing up?

I used to like drawing when I was a child. I won a couple of art competitions when I was in reception class. My painting of Little Red Riding Hood was put up in my local library (the now closed Selly Oak Library in South Birmingham) and I used to like music. I was a fan of Shakin’ Stevens and Adam and the Ants and put masking tape on my face to replicate the Adam Ant stripes that he used to have on his face. I liked to read and to go to the library. I had a few of those Ladybird fairytale books at home but we weren’t a family who read. My parents would read the local newspaper and my dad would buy the Angling Times, as she was a fisherman, but that was it. I liked to make up games and play out on the streets and in the local park, which was called Graffiti Park by the kids, you can guess why!

There's a lot of thoughtful comment around the fusion of different cultures and traditions but there is also a lot of humour, were you conscious of creating a balance between the two and is humour a useful means for exploring complex ideas?

I think the humour comes from my family background. I think humour can be used to break down barriers between people. It can also create divides if you are using it to bully or make fun of someone. How can I centre this person’s experience and add nuance to their character? I think was one question I looked at when writing the characters. For example, Auntie Yee is a tiger mom. She is like a lot of parents I’ve met (Chinese and also non-Chinese) who are pushy, they’re competitive and think about their child as the sum of their academic achievements. I presented that stereotype (because there are people like that I know), but I also added a layer of empathy where we can see that Auntie Yee, also strives to belong in a culture that does not accept her fully so then she thinks that by having certain things or having a daughter who is the best is the way to make friends of be accepted.

The Branford Boase recognises both a debut author and also their editor, can you tell us a little about the relationship you had with your editor Georgia Murray at Piccadilly Press?

Georgia loved my writing from the beginning. When we met for the first time, I was sure this was the right editor for my book. I could tell she loved the characters and she said it was in ‘good shape’ which made me feel like I wasn’t a total novice.

Georgia sends me notes about the big things like structure, characters, plot and then there are notes on the actual manuscript. I must say that each time I’ve had editor notes from Georgia, they have been kind (which is very important for first time writers), the tone is not condescending, or demanding either. She offers gentle suggestions and so far, there hasn’t been a note which I’ve disagreed on or had to dispute. I think there is a now an inherent trust between us. She knows how I work, which can be disorganised, as I have a rough plan when I start writing but I like to see what will appear as I’m writing. I have to delete a lot of words sometimes as I try things and they may not always work but I accept that as part of the process of writing.

It was interesting for me to have Georgia there from the idea stage with my second novel - Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu and I would say her input into the shaping of Lizzie Chu was a lot more than with Danny Chung as I had her support all the way through. She was particularly helpful when I was stuck. I think sometimes I want someone else to come up with the answers for me, but Georgia is good at encouraging me to stick with the process. Parts of the novel appear in the writing of it and some of it feels unconscious and magical almost, I don’t know where some of it comes from.

I value Georgia’s measured nature and if I have any concerns (I am a worrier!) then I feel I can always go to her and tell her what’s on my mind. I trust Georgia (and her team) to know about the market and so when they came up with Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths as the title of the book, I wasn’t sure, but then I told myself, I have to trust her and the team to know what is best for the book.

Your latest book is 'Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu,' can you tell us anything about it please?

Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu is about a young carer whose grandad, Wai Gong is acting a little strange. They’re huge Strictly Come Dancing fans and Lizzie gets tickets to the Blackpool Tower (the home of Ballroom and Latin dancing) and she wants to take him there for a special day out but she’s twelve-years-old and needs help. It’s got a road trip, cosplay and of course, dancing. But there are also intermissions of Chinese myths and legends about the goddess Guan Yin who features in the book. She is the goddess of compassion and mercy. The book is influenced and was written during the pandemic. It was hard going! It’s really a homage to popular culture which was our escape during a tough time, and also, it’s a book about joy and kindness. It’s quite different from Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths, the themes are a little bit older, as is the voice. The writing was also different as the story isn’t as layered as Danny Chung either and there isn’t an antagonist as such, the obstacles are linear. But it is emotive, so I’ve been told and there is humour in there too and a lively cast of characters. I hope readers like it!

The winner of the Branford Boase traditionally goes on to judge the award, is there anything you will be particularly keen to see next year?

Ohhhh, what an interesting question! I don’t know! I loved seeing a highly illustrated book on this year’s shortlist. I think graphic novels are highly sophisticated and so perhaps I’d like to see one of those do well – a YA graphic novel maybe? They’re becoming increasingly popular for all age ranges. Also, funny books are hard to write but often don’t get the kudos that they should in children’s literature. If you can make a children smile, laugh or giggle that is no mean feat and I think children need joy now as they’ve been through so much. So maybe a funny book where you learn something new too? Who knows what we are going to get next year!

A big thank you to Maisie for the interview and to Andrea Reece for the opportunity.

We are joined by Joy Court, conference manager for the group to outline changing plans for the 2021 Conference and the rationale behind these.

It is with profound regret that we have to announce that we have had to cancel the live YLG national conference that would have been taking place on 17-19^th September in Torquay. This is not a decision we took lightly since we had received such superb support and backing from speakers and exhibitors, who were keen and willing to take part. Indeed, Exhibition bookings were at or above normal levels.

However, despite extending the Early Bird dates and despite the announcement of the Prime Minister relaxing restrictions it seems that people were still very reluctant to commit to travelling to a residential large-scale event such as a conference. Even the Prime Minister cannot deny the soaring rates of infection and so this attitude is completely understandable.

 We felt that it was financially irresponsible of us to gamble on numbers picking up over the summer and also felt that the location of the conference in Torquay meant that we were not surrounded by a highly populated area that might generate more day delegates. We also felt that it was morally wrong to accept the significant financial outlay by exhibitors and publishers supporting author attendance if we could not guarantee them our normal audience.

We have been extremely fortunate that the venue, the beautiful and historic Imperial Hotel in Torquay, have acted with great understanding for our position as a small charity and have agreed to release us from the contract and refund our deposit.

We realise this will be a huge disappointment to those of you who had booked and who were looking forward to the inspiration, comradeship and networking that we all so richly deserve after a tremendously difficult period.  We want to say a huge thank you for your support for YLG. Again, we are extremely grateful for the swift action from CILIP to repay in full all of those bookings.

The only good news we can offer is that we know that we can deliver a good virtual conference having done so very successfully last year and so I hope you will all be relieved and delighted to hear that we are fully intending to deliver as much as we can of the brilliant programme for Representations of Place- New Lands and New Ways of Looking as a virtual offering. Watch this space for details for how to book. 

I would also like to assure our colleagues in the South West region that we are still committed to bringing our conference to you as soon as it is viable to do so. We think that people need to re-establish the conference attending habit and so for 2022 we will be seeking a venue that is as central and accessible as possible.

We do firmly believe that our sector needs dedicated CPD about our specialism and that a residential conference provides so many benefits over and beyond the stimulating programme content. You never forget those inspirational speakers, meeting authors and illustrators and being able to pass on those enthusiasms to your young patrons, making professional contacts with colleagues and networking with publishers and partner organisations-  not to mention meeting like minded souls, fellow reading addicts and making friends for life! It can be a lonely job as a sole practitioner in a school library or as the only specialist in an authority and we all need positive reinforcement to do our jobs well.

However, we are all open to change and it maybe that the period we have been through will permanently alter how people want to access training. If you have any ideas or comments, we would love to hear from you. We are here to serve you, our members, after all! Please feel free to email me at events.ylg@cilip.org.uk

For the grand finale of Pop Up’s blog takeover, we are proud to present, not one but two brilliant creators… poet Jay Hulme and illustrator Sahar Haghgoo, the author and illustrator of Here Be Monsters. They are both enjoying a career first step: Here Be Monsters is Sahar’s publishing debut and Jay’s first illustrated book for children. Sahar is a participant in Pathways into Children’s Publishing, Pop Up’s mentoring and training programme in partnership with the House of Illustration (founded by Quentin Blake) and 12 global publishers, which supports artists from under-represented groups into careers in children’s books.

Jay asks Sahar

J: How did you decide on the dragon's shape?

S: I focused on its scale and grandeur, and also on its kindness. The image of the main character and the whole atmosphere of the story needed to reflect the epic nature of the text, so the dragon needed to take up a lot of space. I usually study a lot of pictures for character designs and I am particularly interested in Iranian miniatures.  

J: Do you have a favourite form of writing to illustrate? Poetry? Novels? Short stories? Picture books? Something else?

S: I’ve spent most time on picture books and short stories in my projects on the Pathways into Children’s Publishing programme, and I’m excited that my first published children’s book is a picture book – and also a poem.

J: What's your favourite colour?

S: My favourite colours are red and purple, and you’ll find them both in the underwater world of Here Be Monsters, but I am more interested in how colours work together.

J: What's your favourite illustration technique? (watercolour, digital, collage, etc).

S: I like collage very much, but most of the work I have done so far has been digital, which of course I drew with a pencil before.

J. How do you hope Here be Monsters will make a difference?

S. That people will realise that creatures who are different and might seem scary, because we don’t see all of them, are a beautiful addition to our world.

Sahar asks Jay

S: Will you write more stories with dragons as the main character?

J: Absolutely I will. I love dragons, they're my all-time favourite mythical creature. I've already got a number of poems and poem drafts with dragons in them, just lying around waiting to find a home!

S: What is your favourite colour?

J: I really like muted colours and earth tones: navy blue, burgundy, dark forest green, greys, browns, that kind of thing. I'm not a hugely colourful person to be honest, I think I'd have done well in the days before synthetic dyes gave us an inconceivable number of bright colours to work with.

S: Do you prefer to write for children or adults?

J: Writing for children and for adults is very different. The way you approach what you're sharing has to change to take that into account, but I always make my work very layered. Here Be Monsters is, on the surface, a simple story of about a creature who lives in the sea and then grows wings and lives in the air. But when you dive deeper, it  is an allegory for something else entirely. It’s about metamorphosis and about feeling that the way you have been living is not how you want to be for your whole life. The creature’s “songs of loss and fear and shame” are what is felt by people who are not able to live in their true identity.

I think writing for children is simultaneously easier and harder, because I can indulge myself and fill the story with dragons and joy and big sweeping ideas without having to reign in the hope for the cynicism and pain of an adult audience, but I'm also constantly aware of the fact that children's books shape children. The books you read as a child help to guide what kind of adult you will become, and what ideas you carry with you into adulthood. Children's books are part of the foundation of a person, and that's an enormous responsibility that I take very seriously. So there's a fair bit of pressure there. 

S: Here Be Monsters is a parable about the transgender experience. How do you hope your book will help make a difference to the way children think about or react to the experience you have been through?

J. I think the power of a parable, an allegory, is that it creates in its subject matter a wider applicability - yes, this story is about being trans, and the details all line up for that experience, but because it's told through the medium of a dragon, lots of children will be able to relate it to their own lives and struggles, and this will lead to increased empathy. When a trans child reads it, they will hopefully feel seen and validated, and when a cis child reads it, they will hopefully feel a connection to that character and experience too, a connection that will enable them to see their trans peers in a positive light.

We would like to offer enormous thanks to Pop Up for the innovative 10 Stories to Make a Difference project, to Jay and Sahar for an amazing joint interview - the perfect way to round off the week's celebrations! - and to Nicky Potter for her unparallleled support in bring this takeover to fruition!