‘Do black people read?’ What my years in publishing have taught me about diversity in books | Natalie Jerome

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 ]
News tagged with: #black child #bame children #lead characters #bookshop #picture book

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Final Inspector Montalbano novel, finished years ago, is published in UK

Andrea Camilleri was determined that his crime series could not be continued by another writer, leaving concluding novel with his publisher long before his death in 2019The final novel in Andrea Camilleri’s beloved Inspector Montalbano mystery series is was published on Thursday – but the late... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-10-14 10:03:48 UTC ]
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Gauthier succeeds Sanders as publisher at Greystone Books

Jen Gauthier has been named publisher of Greystone Books and its imprint Greystone Kids, succeeding Rob Sanders at the Vancouver-based firm. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-13 11:30:34 UTC ]
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A Frankfurt Conference Interview: Siv Bublitz on Publishing ‘Books That Speak to Each Other’

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-10-10 01:16:33 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-08 16:06:12 UTC ]
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Quadrille's Hughes appointed first UK publisher at Murdoch Books

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-08 12:39:26 UTC ]
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In Focus: Immigration in Book Publishing

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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It's Official: Book Publishing Sales Held at $25 Billion in 2020

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Panel Mania: The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Book Riot | 2021-10-04 10:37:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-28 14:17:26 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-24 14:33:59 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-09-24 14:26:05 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-22 12:13:00 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2021-09-21 12:55:08 UTC ]
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Book Aid International: Back to School Reading for 290,883

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-09-13 14:14:48 UTC ]
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