Malorie Blackman laments the lack of BAME children’s characters. I know – it’s a real battle to get writers of colour publishedMy daughter, like me, is of mixed heritage. She has wildly curly hair, as have I. When she was born four years ago I was given five copies of the same kids’ picture book by well-meaning friends and relatives. It was called Guess How Much I Love You. This book, whose lead characters are rabbits, was a bestseller in the 1990s. Back then it flew off the shelves. What I did not expect when I was pregnant with my daughter was that it would be far easier to find her a rabbit picture book than one featuring a child like her with brown skin and curls.This week Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts and Crosses, told Channel 4 News that of the many books she read as a child “not one of them featured a black child like me”, adding that “it made me feel invisible in the world of literature”. And when, in her mid-20s, she noticed in a children’s bookshop that little had changed, “that’s when I decided that I wanted to write for children ... for the child in me, really, for all the books I wish I could have read as a child”.If we feel disconnected from each other, perhaps it starts in this skewed, unrepresentative vision of the world that begins in our books when we are at knee height Related: Whatever happened to author Dorothy West? Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-17 07:00:41 UTC ]
Parents keen to encourage children into good hygiene practices during the coronavirus outbreak turn to Tony Ross’s anarchic creation for helpParents desperate to persuade their children to keep washing their hands have been turning to Tony Ross’s anarchic creation the Little Princess for help,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-03-23 12:31:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The impact of the coronavirus has seen the Booksellers Association issue a rallying cry to the trade, as many publishers enforce home working to safeguard staff. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-19 23:39:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bookshop.org, an alternative to Amazon that shares proceeds from book sales with independent bookstores, will give more money to those stores in response to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on small businesses. Bookshop announced today that it would increase bookstore partners’ affiliate... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-18 15:09:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Macmillan Children’s Books has signed illustrator David Tazzyman to its list for his debut middle-grade fiction series and a new picture book. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-11 16:24:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Puffin has snapped up Zadie Smith and Nick Laird's "endearing" debut picture book, Weirdo, featuring a judo suit-wearing guinea pig. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 07:57:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Indie bookshops are cashing in on a pre-order boom for Hilary Mantel’s new book and are hosting everything from midnight openings to silent discos this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-01 15:13:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Ruth Jones will be embarking on a UK tour to celebrate the publication of her new novel Us Three in a collaboration between Fane and Transworld. The tour, combining a Fane-produced theatre tour with bookshop events organised by Transworld, will comprise seven dates across the UK. It begins at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-28 11:07:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A picture book newly arrived from Australia offers some advice as virus anxiety sets in. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-27 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Button & Bear children’s bookshop in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has been forced to close today (Wednesday 25th February) owing to rising floodwaters. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-25 14:31:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For the next installation in our interview series with contemporary poets, Peter Mishler corresponded with Victoria Chang. Victoria Chang’s books include OBIT (April 2020), Barbie Chang, The Boss, Salvinia Molesta, and Circle. Her children’s picture book, Is Mommy?, was illustrated by Marla... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-21 09:48:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Macmillan Children’s Books is publishing its first new title in 37 years from writer and illustrator Jill Murphy this September. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 04:50:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Is there anything LeBron James can’t do? Before you attempt to form a response, let me save you some time; the answer, of course, is no. Case in point: HarperCollins yesterday announced a two-book deal with the LeBron James Foundation. James’ debut, a picture book titled I Promise,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 16:36:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When Jokha al-Harthi and Marilyn Booth won the Man Booker International Prize last year, for Booth’s translation of Sayyidat al-Qamr (Celestial Bodies), many hurried to note that al-Harthi was the “first Omani woman writer” to have a book in English translation.While true, this may give the... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-02-19 10:26:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Scholastic and Penguin Random House retained their #1 spots in our rankings of children’s frontlist fiction and picture book bestsellers by corporation, respectively, though each company’s share of positions on its list diminished slightly from 2018. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
LOS ANGELES–BASED AUTHOR Mark Z. Danielewski recently published a strange picture book called The Little Blue Kite. The project marks an unexpected pivot from his most recent experimental quintet, The Familiar: Volumes 1–5 (2015–’17), which Danielewski described as a “love letter” to his home... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-14 20:00:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bookshop Santa Cruz in California and Changing Hands Bookstore in Arizona, have partnered in a drive to register Arizona voters and persuade them to vote Democrat in this year's presidential election. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Could a bespoke book subscription service break you out of your reading rut or encourage you to explore new genres?Heywood Hill bookshop has stood on the same spot since 1936. It inhabits a Georgian townhouse at 10 Curzon Street in Mayfair, London, a blue plaque outside commemorating its most... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-02-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A pair of Prosecco-drinking burglars have been sentenced after police caught the two men knocking back alcohol during a break-in at Gay's the Word bookshop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-13 04:34:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Just a month into 2020 and my wishlist is already straining under the weight of all the new titles I’m looking forward to being published. Maybe it’s working in a bookshop or the concentrated effort I’ve been making to retreat into a fantasy-bubble when I’m at home, but I’ve found myself excited... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-03 09:50:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The copy of Françoise Frenkel’s No Place to Lay One’s Head that was recently found, I’m told, in Nice, in an Emmaus Companions charity jumble sale, had a curious effect on me. Perhaps because it had been printed in Switzerland in September 1945 for Geneva-based publishers Jeheber. That... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-27 09:49:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this