Stonewall call for preschool books featuring diverse families
Last month the new CEO of Stonewall, Ruth Hunt spoke about her
desire to commission a series of books for preschool children featuring diverse families in order to challenge homophobia from an early age. We're delighted with this news, but one series of books isn't enough. We need lots of books featuring all different kinds of families. The response from publishers was positive, but to ensure that this was turned into real action, we wrote an article for the Publishers Association about
how true inclusion can be achieved in mainstream books.
Sky News and cultural diversity
We were delighted to be invited to speak on Sky News about the importance of culturally diverse children's books alongside an interview with Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman. We took the opportunity to talk about the need for such books and our work with the industry. Unfortunately Malorie Blackman was misquoted on screen and in the article about the piece, and as a result received a torrent of racist abuse. As she says, this just highlights the desperate need for more diverse and inclusive books.
2014 IBBY Congress, Mexico
Thanks to a generous bursary from IBBY UK, Beth has gone to Mexico to attend the IBBY International Congress. The theme is Reading as an Inclusive Experience, so is particularly pertinent to Inclusive Minds. Beth will be speaking in one of the parallel sessions about how one publisher is achieving true inclusion, and the work that Inclusive Minds is doing. As well as attending the congress, some of the UK delegates will be visiting publishers and literacy organisations, and Child's Play have kindly donated some books for us to pass on to a local orphanage and programmes working with disadvantaged children.
Bookseller Children's Conference
Inclusive Minds will be speaking at the Bookseller Children's Conference about what works and what doesn't in terms of inclusive and diverse children's books. It's a great opportunity for us to address the industry about the importance of true inclusion and the ways to achieve this.
Booktrust regional training
In October, Inclusive Minds will be delivering some tailored training for Booktrust. The Inclusive Minds workshop will form a part of each of the regional stakeholders' events being held in a range of locations around the country. The session will aim to help Bookstart coordinators and other professionals working in early years settings consider how best to develop the support they offer children with additional needs in relation to bookgifting. Contact Booktrust to find out more about the regional stakeholders' events.
Shhh...
We're currently working on a very exciting and highly confidential project to be announced in the next few weeks. Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for an announcement.
