Equal Measures at London Book Fair

Alex Strick reports on this year's Equal Measures seminar at London Book Fair, exploring diversity in children's literature

Last week saw the prestigious London Book Fair take over Earl’s Court for three glorious book-filled days.  One of the 300 seminars on offer to visitors was our own event around diversity in children’s literature. This is the fourth year I have run an Equal Measures seminar at the fair and following the success of previous years, 2013 saw our session being awarded a slot in its own right, although still in happy association with Booktrust.

The Equal Measures idea was developed by myself and Booktrust primarily with the aim of helping the children’s book world better understand and respond to the need for positive images of disability in books. However this year, we broadened the theme, aiming to consider how children’s books measure up in respect to all aspects of diversity. No mean feat in less than 60 minutes.

Thankfully the panel of speakers rose valiantly to the challenge. An extraordinary amount was covered – as the length of this blog post testifies.

I opened the seminar by welcoming our key note speaker Verna Wilkins – a figure who represents something of a hero for me and many others. As we knew she would, Verna brought both a consummate blend of inspiration, humour and poignancy to her remarkable insight into her motives for establishing Tamarind Books back in 1987. She described how her five-year-old son had returned home from school one day with a picture of himself carefully coloured in with pink paint, despite this bearing no resemblance to his own skin colour. When Verna questioned whether it actually looked like him, the little boy patiently explained why it had to be this way. The picture was for a children’s book - and children in books have pink faces.  

Books have the power to ignore, the power to make heroes, the power to includeVerna described how this shocking event prompted her to start her own publishing business to start trying to redress the balance. That was 25 years ago, and since then Tamarind has gone from strength to strength. Now an imprint of Random House, Tamarind remains a key player on the children’s book publishing scene – ensuring that the landscape continues to include books which give a positive profile to children of all backgrounds. Because of course this isn’t something which can be quickly fixed, but is rather an ongoing challenge. As Verna said, 'books have the power to ignore, the power to make heroes, the power to include.'

Fen Coles, co-director of Letterbox Library was next to take to the mic. Letterbox is a not-for-profit supplier of the very best in non-sexist, inclusive and multicultural children’s books. Fen offered up some very pertinent observations concerning the state of the children’s book landscape in relation to the many different forms of diversity. She identified areas which have improved (such as increased appearance of BME characters and images of disability) but also highlighted ways in which these areas could be still further enhanced. For example, we need more books in which a child from a BME background is the lead character (not just the sidekick or someone in the crowd scene) and more books featuring forms of disability other than wheelchairs. Interestingly, Fen also mentioned that books relevant to family breakdown are some of the most requested at Letterbox – we still need books to show that families come in all shapes, sizes and configurations. 

Fen pointed out the need for ‘intersectionality’ – in other words books featuring more than one form of We need books to show that families come in all shapes, sizes and configurationsdiversity. It often strikes me that there seems to be a rather paradoxical fear amongst those who create books of being somehow too PC – but in actual fact by featuring a disabled character who is from a BME background or someone from a traveler background who also happens to be gay surely we are just acknowledging the true spectrum of diversity and ensuring that everyone is included somewhere in the book landscape?

The seminar also looked at the subject of LGBT books. As Erica Gillingham pointed out, the ‘T’ is actually almost completely absent in books for children and young adults. Notable exceptions cited by Erica were Luna, Parrotfish and I Am J (and you can find a full list of all the books mentioned in the seminar at the end of this blog).

The first young adult book with a gay character was published in the US in 1969 and since that time there has been a slow increase in publishing with LGBT characters in US, UK and Canada. The number of such books published in the US has risen far more sharply in the last 10 years or so, with most years averaging 20 book a year, however gay protagonists still remain extraordinarily rare on this side of the pond. Erica cited significant shifts towards more 'literary novels' and novels with B & T characters, as well as more genre fiction.

It's great to see gay penguins - but what about the occasional gay human?The panel also made an interesting point about the fact that gay and lesbian characters in young adult fiction are so often treated in a rather ‘soft and cuddly’ (and very asexual) way. Meanwhile in picture books, as Fen pointed out, it’s great to see gay penguins, but what about the occasional gay human?

The seminar also looked at the subject of gender roles and gendered marketing. Beth Cox (freelance editor and inclusion advisor) commented that gender segregation - and therefore stereotyping - is deeply ingrained in schools. A significant body of research confirms that gender stereotyping impacts negatively on young people in relation to everything from educational attainment and career choices to self-esteem and body image. Stereotypical views of what girls and boys ‘should’ like and do are established early so it is never too early to start challenging these ideas and to talk about how we shouldn’t feel the need to conform to the expectations of others. I’m a particular fan of books like Dogs Don’t Do Ballet and Zog which challenge a few stereotypes in a fun way. 

We referenced much of the work by the wonderful Mark Jennett (diversity trainer) and the No Outsiders project which aimed to challenge homophobic bullying in the playground with the aid of books.

The panel did not ignore the commercial implications of choosing to publish such books. The experience of those of a publishing background suggested some very positive aspects to developing a more diverse publishing output. Certainly where schools are concerned, there seems to be a growing interest in books reflecting different aspects of diversity. Liza Miller (a junior editor at Templar Books) shared a wealth of experience on the value of publishing books which challenge stereotypes, outlining research suggesting that rather than being put off by stories which do this, children are very much attracted to them. I’d encourage anyone to seek out Liza’s work online and a good starting point is her Linked In profile.

Beth Cox also talked about her experience at the very inclusive Child’s Play. She stressed the importanceIn this social media generated society, companies that reinforce gender stereotypes face the risk of being 'named and shamed'  of developing books with the child at the forefront, and commented on the fact that in this social media generated society, companies that reinforce gender stereotypes also face the risk of being ‘named and shamed’.

Finally, the seminar suggested a range of ways in which we can all aim to instigate change, as well as a range of sources of help. The Bookmark site includes top tips for publishers on including disabled characters, and on a wider diversity level, the Inclusive Minds site is also a good source of information and ideas. We were exceptionally grateful to Mantra Publishing for their creation of an amazing inclusive ‘talking’ banner which helped us to share some of the views of children and young people themselves.

A full audio version of the seminar will also be available shortly. As this blog bears out, the seminar covered a considerable amount in its sixty precious minutes. However the overriding sense at the end of the hour was that there is still much left undiscussed. More importantly, there is still so very much left to do.  

I’ll finish with a quote from Chimamanda Adichie (The Danger of a Single Story):

'Show a people as one thing – as only one thing – over and over again, and that is what they become.'

Books references in the Equal Measures seminar

• Dogs Don’t Do Ballet - Anna Kemp (challenging gender stereotypes)
• It's A George Thing – David Bedford and Russell Julian
• Zog – Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
• 10,000 Dresses - Marcus Ewert
• Bill’s New Frock - Anne Fine
• Samuel's Baby – Mark Elkin
• The Paperbag Princess - Robert Munsch
• The Sissy Duckling - Harvey Fierstein
• Princess Pigsty - Cornelia Funke
• Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly - Sue Heap
• The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler - Gene Kemp
• Princess Smartypants – Babette Cole
• Amazing Grace - Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch
• Abdi's Day – Verna Wilkins
• Black Stars: Malorie Blackman - Verna Wilkins
• The Life of Stephen Lawrence - Verna Wilkins
• Benjamin Zephaniah – Verna Wilkins
• Boots for a Bridesmaid – Verna Wilkins
• Max the Champion – Sean Stockdale, Alex Strick, Ros Asquith (disability)
• Granny Torrelli Makes Soup – Sharon Creech
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian - Alexie Sherman
• One, Two, Three, Run –Carol Thomson  (Incidental - down’s syndrome)
• Maggot Moon – Sally Gardner
• Freddie and the Fairy – Julia Donaldson (deafness)
• Whisper – Chrissie Keighery (deafness)
• The Great Big Book of Families – Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
• The Family Book – Todd Parr
• Toffee and Pie - Pippa Goodhart
• Road Horse - Caroline Binch
• Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez (LBG)
• King and King – Linda De Haan
• Donovan’s Big Day - Leslea Newman
• And Tango Makes Three – Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
• Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle - Pija Lindebaum
• Hello Sailor – Ingrid Godon and Andre Sollie
• What's Up with Jody Barton? - Hayley Long
• Adaptation - Malinda Lo (Bisexual)
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M Danforth (Lesbian)
• Ash by Malinda Lo (Lesbian)
• About a Girl by Joanne Horniman (LB)
• Luna by Julie Ann Peters (Transgender)
• Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger (Transgender)
• I Am J by Cris Beam (Transgender)