,I usually only blog here about books and related matters, but I was so uplifted by the AfroCelt concert I went to in Reading on Saturday night, I wanted to write. And, as I thought about what I wanted to say, I realised that actually it has a bearing on my 'book life' as it were...

I don't like to use the word 'diversity' very much - so often it's used by white people when they talk about 'others' - but you can't get away from the word when you're watching AfroCelt - they epitomise it in being a group of musicians from around the world creating the most amazing sound.
It's not 'fused' - you can hear clearly all the different original traditions at once - but together they do produce something new and amazing and exciting.

I think the reason I was so uplifted (not just from the amazing music itself but from the experience) is the fact that all of these people working together and creating this amazing new thing are a fabulous example of how much richer we are when we embrace and respect each others' traditions and when we celebrate what we achieve together...

This was in contrast to the direction the UK seems to be moving at the moment, and specifically the horrible comments I'd been reading the few days before on Emma Dabiri's Twitter feed claiming (in a nutshell) that Irishness cannot include anyone who is not white and being particularly nasty about people of mixed heritage.

There was a lot of talk about 'purity' in this thread - and I guess it wasn't a surprise that the comments came back into my head while I was watching a Punjabi-Sikh (from Slough - big up Slough) accompanying an Irish fiddler playing a reel...

Because while people claim that 'music is a universal language', there is much talk of purity in musical circles too - most especially in the area of folk or traditional music. On my last visit to Kerry I joined a great local trad session, but I was curious at the amazement at a local young flute player. Adopted as a baby, people were amazed at his facility to play Irish music - even though he'd been adopted into an extremely musical family - as if there was an Irish traditional music -gene.

I have no doubt that there are genes for musical aptitude, and I'm sure if this young boy was living in Russia, he'd be playing Tchaikovsky. But there isn't a gene for national music and it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone born elsewhere but growing up in a rich musical environment should be a skilled practitioner of a local tradition. When we talk of people being 'naturals' we somehow set up a situation where a tradition cannot be learned but has to somehow be inherited.

The thing about Afro Celt is that each musician is superb exponent of his or her traditional/native instrument and musical tradition. They are all amazingly skilled. And whatever about this talk of universal languages, actually even brilliant musicians from very different traditions cannot just roll up and start playing together...

So when Johnny Kalsi (the Slough Punjabi-Sikh dohl-player) said "you need three legs for this one, it's in sevenths" he was really acknowledging the level of difficulty of the collaboration in the next piece. For someone like me, steeped in an Irish tradition, I was loving it, but struggled to keep the beat! And I was in awe of the Irish flute and fiddle player who somehow managed to play some kind of slip-jig to it!

These musicians, all experts in their own fields must have had to be prepared to really listen to each other, to be open to being amateurs and needing to learn about a different tradition.

And the result was so amazing. For me, what is SO exciting about Afro-Celt is that it's not just a blend - you can hear all the different instruments and traditions clearly, but the experience of hearing them together is mind-blowing.

So, if you are saddened by the daily updates on Brexit with their attendant xenophobia and the emboldening of those voices which would argue for pure homelands, check out Afro-Celt and lift your soul.

http://www.afroceltsoundsystem.org.uk/
http://www.afroceltsoundsystem.org.uk/events/

For the current series of concerts they are being 'supported' by the Dhol Foundation.
www.dholfoundation.com

So I'm humming 'All the single Ladies' in my head all week and I can't think why...

Everything is ready for Edinburgh Book Festival...

• magic wand - tick VITAL for under 5s events
• bookmarks with little cats for them to colour in - tick
• my box of goodies with glitter and tape and ribbons to decorate the bookmarks - tick

And then I realised - one of my craft activities is to make a Mary Mary doll. (Lulu loves the poem Mary Mary Quite Contrary - it inspires her to plant flowers and decorate her garden with shells and beads... Lulu thinks that the 'maids all in a row' are little ladies and she makes one herself. I then made some last summer and put instructions for how to make them on the website...

My events at EIBF will be focused on Lulu Loves Flowers and Lulu Gets a Cat - with storytelling and then craft. I ordered some wooden 'bodies' to act as the bases for the dolls but when they arrived they were far too light in colour - Lulu's dolls look just like her and that's important.

SO I spent the last few weeks painting the bodies - now these little ladies are ready to go!

This is a book I worked on in 1995 with the wonderful Margaret Bateson-Hill. She had already contacted the Lambeth Chinese Community about her story, and once I'd acquired it, I continued to work with them. They vetted the artwork (and if fact found a major historical error - the artists had worked from really good quality reference. However, she'd drawn the emperor's courtiers with beards and our consultant told us they were always eunuchs, so we had to remove the beards. We also contacted the community for recommendations and connections: they found us a paper-cut artist and a translator, and put me in touch with people who typeset a Chinese newspaper who I used for the Chinese text. They made a really positive contribution to the project. I'm not singing my own praises here, just making the point that this has been good practice for sensitive publishers for over 30 years.

This was the first in a series of four 'new' folktale-style stories, and we worked very closely with a group from the Native American Community (in the USA), a group of Russian friends in London and a number of Indian librarians living in the UK for the other books in the series. It was routine.

2) Sensitivity readers to check books for offence

Two points here actually. Firstly I hate the term sensitivity readers - like we are all some kind of snowflakes! If I set my book in a historical context and I as a writer/editor/publisher ask someone with knowledge and expertise/experience of this context, I don't call them 'sensitivity readers' I call them consultants. Though those who coined the expression in the first place didn't mean it in a pejorative way, it is important what we call things and certainly, I think calling them 'sensitivity readers' feeds into the kind of attitude expressed by Lionel Shriver - that it's all about sensitivity rather than accuracy or authenticity. Lee and Low (who I'm sure have also been using readers for a very long time call them 'cultural consultants' and I think this is a far more sensible term. It also speaks to the attempt by authors, editors and publishers to 'get it right' rather than having the  'unrelenting anguish about hurting other people's feelings' Shriver talks about.

Which brings me on to the second point - the offence bit.
See, as a writer myself and as someone who writes, edits and publishes stories set outside of my own experience, I am concerned about giving offence, sure - I think that goes without saying. However, the main motivation behind asking someone who is more knowledgeable or has more experience about a situation I'm writing about, it to get it right, to find an authenticity... a weird note, a slightly off phrase can break the magic of a story, draw attention to the writing, break the spell - that's what I'm trying to avoid - that slightly off note...

Sadly, I think one of the reasons publishing is recently talking about 'sensitivity readers' is that it has long been writing/publishing for an assumed white audience and white readers' notions of 'blackness' (or any other 'other'). In this context, a reasonably informed stab at representing any non-white character/voice/situation is good enough as long as it seems OK to the white writer/editor/publisher. This is the white gaze Toni Morrison talks about and which was recently referred to by L.J. Alonge in his recent brilliant article, Writing Past The White Gaze As A Black Author.
In recent years, especially in YA, readers have routinely voiced criticisms of texts which are inauthentic, and this perhaps is why publishers are waking up to the diversity of readers their stories are being read by - and that is feeding the (good) move to consult.

* Little side note, it was interesting to me that in the Toni Morrison video she speaks of asking her Mali friend various questions including finding an authentic name for one of her characters. Publishers may be waking up to checking white writers, but we all need to be sensitive when writing about any other culture.

3) Sensitivity Readers

Though the word readers is used in the plural when talking about this, it seems to me from a lot of the comments that in reality people use one reader. And while I understand how hard it is to get multiple readers, that surely has to be part of the exercise - if the intention is to genuinely iron out any glitches versus getting a tick of approval.

Chimamanda Adichie says pretty much everything worth saying on the topic in her amazing Ted Talk The Danger of a Single Story. And I think everything she says also applies to cultural consultants as I shall now call them. It is unfair to ask one 'cultural reader' to represent a whole group of individuals and we should remember that what might sound off to someone from a particular class/city/religion in a country, might be just fine for someone else from a different class/countryside/religion. Finding more than one reader might seem a daunting task, but actually it's not.

I was quite nervous when working on my book, My Friend Jamal. I had worked with the Somali family featured in the story for so long we'd become good friends, so I was confident the settings were OK. However, the mother of 'Jamal' was not a confident English speaker and at very least I wanted to be sure she really knew and understood what I was saying in the story. I knew two other Somali families really well and asked them to put me in touch with others - in fact one woman was part of a Somali women's group and she kindly invited me along to one of their meetings, introduced me and allowed me to read the story and have the women comment. Since I touched on religious practice in the story, it was very important to me that some very committed Muslims commented on it alongside some with more secular views. In my experience, people are incredibly willing to help you make sure you represent people like them accurately.


So, that's where I'll leave it. I think consultants are vital to anyone writing outside of their own experience - but it's important they don't feel the burden of being one voice from that community - whatever it is. For me at least, this is not about “marginalised groups whose feelings must be specially protected" it's about the authenticity of the story. I'll close with one anecdote. When I came to the UK first I was quite a fan of The Bill, but over time, I had to stop watching it. I found that every time an Irish character appeared on screen, he was likely to be the criminal. That was offensive. However, the other thing that made me stop watching was the inaccuracy - I watched one programme where two Irish guys were supposed to be brothers. Now, their accents were from different parts of the country - so I assumed it was part of the plot that they were not in fact brothers. However, it turned out they were (supposed to be brothers that is) - it was just some casual casting and lack of attention to detail. But it spoiled the whole plot and resolution for me and I was confused for much of the programme. That is what a consultant might have fixed - the authenticity bit. 

Finally, I think we need to guard against over reliance on readers - the story is ultimately the writer's responsibility and then that of her editor/publisher... a sensitivity reader can comment, but it should never be seen as some kind of tick of approval or badge against criticism.

Anna

Thoughtful comments please.

Bologna 2016 was a very significant one for me. Having sold the US, Danish and Dutch rights for the first Lola/Lulu book at the fair in 2004/5, I decided to set up Alanna Books to publish it in the UK. In 2006, all of us met to celebrate. Little did we realise how this little book-loving hero would take off!

So in 2016, I felt it was important to mark the 10 years - not just of Lulu's development, but also of the joy I've had working with such a tremendous group of people. I've begun to think of Lulu as a magnet for nice people, each time she finds a new champion, I make a new colleague and friend.

So first up, I'm so grateful that my stories are illustrated by not just one of the most talented illustrators in the business, but one of the nicest - Ros Beardshaw.

It was a fabulous evening with a very sweet moment towards the end - the lovely proprietors of Enoteca Storica Faccioli, Elisa and Stefano brought their little son to meet us. He was very excited to get a copy of Lulu as you can see and he reminded us what this really is all about!

I can't end this post without thanking two of my biggest supporters - the talented writer and storyteller, Margaret Bateson-Hill, and my wonderful husband, Brian, without whose support none of this would be possible.

In the photos: Marianna Warth, Pallas Editora Rio de Janero, Brazil; Andrew Macmillan & Tricia, MMS Publishing Services, UK; Martyn Chapman, ORCA Book Services UK; Rusty Scott, Yolanda Scott & Meg Quinn, Charlesbridge Publishing, Boston, USA; Kendra Marcus & Ilse Crane, BookStop Literary Agency San Fransisco, USA; Margaret Bateson-Hill, UK; Brian Pembroke UK at Enoteca Storica Faccioli, Bologna - with thanks to Simona Sideri.

This is a little bit of a cheat - I first wrote it on the US publishers Charlesbridge's blog, Unabridged, when Lulu Loves Flowers was published in hardcover. Now that it's out in  paperback - in time to celebrate 10 years of Lulu books, I thought I could re-blog it here...

Writing is a funny thing. You think you're writing about one thing, but it turns out you're writing about something else altogether, you just don't realise it!

When I started writing Lulu Loves Flowers, I thought I was just writing a simple story about Lulu and gardening. I thought, 'if she wanted to garden, Lulu's a bit like me, so first thing she would do is read up on the subject.' She loves books anyways, so that was appropriate and that's what I made her do. 

I actually have a small town garden and I don't really regard myself as a gardener. But I do have a wonderful collection of gardening books with fantastic photographs of beautiful gardens and inspiring schemes…

Our garden is at it's best in spring, (when I do a little weeding and planting)

But once the big cherry tree comes into leaf it's too shady for many flowers, so I spend most of the time sitting in the shade reading gardening books (and occasionally cook books, craft books…) I've always been a little bit more into reading about doing things and looking at nice pictures of things than actually making or doing!

 I actually did more gardening when I was very little. My dad is a very keen gardener, growing vegetables and fruit in our back garden, as well as flowers and a large lawn out front. His carrots, turnips, potatoes, onions, lettuces, strawberries, and rhubarb kept us happy and well fed (except for the year when, aged three, I picked the strawberry flowers and presented them in a bunch to my mother!).


I helped with weeding and planting, and he also gave me a little patch to grow my own stuff – some onions, lettuce, a few flowers… My most adventurous year was the one when I decided to grow various items mentioned in the Enid Blyton stories I was reading. The Famous Five and the Adventurous four seemed to exist on a diet of radishes, watercress sandwiches and ginger beer (none of which I'd tasted - in fact I thought ginger beer was alcoholic and I was a bit shocked the children were allowed to drink it). Like Lola wanting to re-create Mary Mary's contrary garden, I was determined to find out what watercress and especially radishes tasted like. 

I have to tell you, both were disappointing. I couldn't really understand the attraction of watercress (though combined with hardboiled egg and mayonnaise  - a recipe from one of the cooking books I also happened to have borrowed from the library - it was just about OK). But the radishes were a total bust! I think that in combination with the descriptions of Dick and George wolfing them down, the very word 'radish' sounded delicious to me. So the bland, pale, hard white radishes I grew were a horrible disappointment. Worst of all was I'd been very successful and had an enormous crop which I couldn't give away fast enough!

Whenever I took a break from all that planting and weeding (not!) I was off to do the other thing I liked to do in the garden – pretending to be a spy! I would get down on my tummy and crawl between the vegetable ridges, pretending I was sneaking up on some bad guys or escaping from some bad guys…

And you know, I think this is really what Lulu Loves Flowers is about. It's about the fact that little kids are like little sponges – soaking up experiences and trying stuff out and working out how the world works and who they are and how they fit. And it's about the fact that we must not limit their options or their imaginations. Too often we see a little girl who loves reading and we put her in the 'cerebral'  box. We buy her more books (good thing) and read to her (good thing) but perhaps forget that on other days she may enjoy running in the garden just as much… We see a little girl who loves to run about and we put her in the 'sporty box'. We sign her up for after school sports clubs (good thing) and cheer her from the sidelines (good thing) but perhaps forget that once in a while she might like to sit and listen to a story… We see a little girl who loves dressing up and we put her in the 'artistic' box and we sign her up for art class (good thing) and dance class (good thing) but forget that once in a while she might like to run about in the mud or plant some flowers…

I was that mix of things – a crazy reader, soaking up information and stories but then acting them out, running about, pretending… getting muddy. I was fortunate that my parents accepted that mixed up bundle of stuff and it wasn't really until my teens when I started to run middle-distance competitively that these two sides of my personality seem a problem to other people. My running club peers were curious about my 'bookishness', seeing it as at odds with my my passion for running and some of my 'cerebral' friends thought  my love of physical exertion was just weird. (And did I mention that I was also into art and played two musical instruments). Happily, none of my friends were anything other than puzzled by my 'other' interests and I continued with them all. 

But more and more I see a modern trend to channel children into a particular stream earlier and earlier (I think so they can be sold things more efficiently). The tailored advertising of the 'if you liked that author/musician/dress – you'll like this author/musician/dress' is ubiquitous. It may seem innocuous, but is a symptom of a world where we are encouraged to identify with a particular (and often narrow) set of values/ambitions and stick with them. When applied to young children, this tendency to label and contain seems to me to be kicking in earlier and earlier. I have parents of 2-year olds tell me 'he's not really into books' as if this is a fixed character trait like having brown eyes (and as if ANY trait is fixed in a 2-year old) and I see parents dress their little girls as princesses and wonder why they don't want to run and play outside.

So Lulu Loves Flowers is about ALL of that… It's about a little girl who is like a little sponge, soaking up information about the world around her; acting out things from books; trying out different roles and figuring out what makes her happy and where she fits in the world…

Carol Ann Duffy's Christmas poem this year,  The Wren-Boys has sparked much interest in the old custom of 'going on the Wren'. Most Google searches state that it is an obsolete custom, but in Kerry where I grew up (and some other parts of rural Ireland) it is very much alive.

Like many other Irish celebrations, it is one based on layers upon layers of custom...

Nowadays, The Wren is celebrated on St Stephen's Day (the feast day of first Christian martyr) but the tradition has no links with St Stephen and most likely was originally celebrated on the Solstice (only a few days earlier after all). In fact, the Wren was venerated in Irish mythology as a wise and clever bird who outsmarted the Eagle to be named King of the birds. The story goes that the birds decided to have a competition to elect a king. The winner was to be the bird who flew highest and the Eagle was confident of winning. However, the clever little Wren perched on the Eagle's back and when the Eagle reached the highest point, the Wren came out of hiding and flew higher.

In Celtic mythology, the wren was also the symbol of the old year. The tradition of chasing and killing a wren then parading it round the locality while singing and dancing, collecting money for its burial, makes sense in this context.

This association with older mythology (in fact, the Irish word for wren dreolín suggests an association with Druidic practice, the name meaning 'druid's bird') was a troubling one in Christian times. So, it is thought that, in order to clamp down on the custom, new stories were invented including one that St. Stephen, hiding from his enemies in a bush, was betrayed by a chattering wren. The wren, like St. Stephen, should be hunted down and stoned to death. This and other stories attempted to make the wren an object of scorn versus veneration. The result is a hodge-podge that makes little sense:

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
Although he was little his honour was great,
Jump up me lads and give him a treat.
Chorus:
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
And give us a penny to bury the wren.


In later years bunches of feathers and pretend birds were attached to poles with ribbons instead of an actual bird, which were then carried round the locality accompanied by singers asking for 'a penny for the Wren' (though rumors persisted that the Wren boys would return in the night and bury a dead wren in the garden of anyone who was less than generous - something which would bring them bad luck for the coming year). The money collected would be pooled to fund a party traditionally called a join.

When we 'went on the Wren' we collected money not for a party but for a local youth club. What interests me is how much of a carnival it was, and the strong emphasis on disguise (something not really mentioned in Google searches). There was a strong tradition of men dressing as women and many wearing night clothes.
It was also traditional to 'go on the wren' in the next town or village along rather than your own and even then we all had to agree to pretend to be from somewhere else (we pretended to be from Toornafolla).

(left) Brian Pembroke & (right) Anna McQuinn On the Wren 1985
Setting out from O'Mahony's house, Castleisland, Co Kerry

(left) Brian Pembroke & (right) Anna McQuinn (in the background, in his pyjamas) Cormac O Mahony On the Wren 1985, Flanagan's, Brosna, Co Kerry

(left) Lyn, (centre) Dan Lynch & (right) 'our treasurer' Colm McQuinn
On the Wren, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, 1985

More interesting links;
Here

And this, ladies and gentlemen, can I point out was 2006. Yet here we are again almost another 10 years later – talking about the right to be included. Of course it’s not wrong to have this discussion, in fact, sadly, it is very necessary. But my question to you is - What can we do to make sure we’re NOT having the same debate in 2024?

I have some suggestions:

First, know your history

We have been fighting for the right of children to see themselves in books and so feel that they belong since at least the 1970s. We’ve done the research and…

• we already know babies are aware of and negatively affected by bias from as early as 18 months;

• we already know that not seeing themselves in literature negatively effects children’s motivation to read and learn, their self esteem and their mental health;

• we already know that narrow ‘norms’ offered in literature also damage ‘mainstream’ children, limiting their dreams imaginations and their capacity for empathy and understanding;

• we already know that publishers are not ‘charities’ but we also know that demand continues to outstrip supply and that there are lots of customers for inclusive books;

• we already know that the argument that books with pink glittery (able-bodied, white, straight) princesses / blue macho (able-bodied, white, straight) heroes is “just what children want” is spurious;

• we already know that we’re not asking for bland, politically-correct, inoffensive stories about beige children set in some ‘ideal world’ in grey covers;

• we already know that we just want books that have a range of characters that reflect the real diverse world we live in;

There have been volumes and volumes of studies and reports and articles and books and blogs explaining and defending and proving over and over and over and over and over…

So I think we can safely stop explaining and arguing and defending and proving…

We already know!

We need to act!

We cannot allow children's reading, development, imaginations and dreams to be limited by narrow revenue categories however convenient and successful they are for retailers. While the industry regards inclusive or diverse books as not commercial they are pushed off the shelf by the ‘easy sell' of pink glitter / adventure stories. So, while ours might be a political campaign, it is fought in a commercial arena and money talks...

This was brought home to me last year by the storm which erupted over The Independent’s book reviewer Katy Guest’s decision to no longer review books which had ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ in the title (this was in support of the Let Books be Books campaign). Wow was she attacked! Scrolling through comments, what saddened me (aside from the violent nature of the attacks) was the amount of energy and space and time people spent defending the need to for diversity, arguing about biological determinism… I though, ‘you know, we don’t need to do this… we already know…’

(What I did suggest was that to counter all those who threatened to never buy the Independent again, anyone supporting Katy should not limit themselves to tweeting support, but should go out and buy the Independent that Sunday – buy two copies! You can read my blog about it on http://www.annamcquinn.com/blog/heads-above-the-parapet). I felt we needed to put our money where our mouths were and show the Independent that its editorial policy had customers.


So what can you do?

1. Read:
look at your own reading choices and any that you have influence over
(children, colleagues, students, family, customers…);

2. Buy:
if the industry thinks there isn’t a market, we have to show them
(give more diverse books as presents, at Christmas, as donations…);

3. Order:
If your local bookshop or library or school doesn’t have the (diverse) book you want, don’t just get it elsewhere, order it, demand they stock it (if it's a school, donate it)! (Otherwise they may never realise that there's a demand).

(The #WeNeedDiversBooks campaign in the USA asked all librarians attending the American Library Association conference to ask at every publisher’s display what diverse books they were offering);

4. Recommend:
(to friends, family, colleagues, in blogs, on Twitter…);

Did I say buy already? You can't expect other people to buy you book/publish books you like unless you buy them yourself. We authors can't eat tweets.


And you can start today, right here, right now.
as Arthur Ashe wisely advised,
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Each one of us has to start with what we can do
and if we all change one thing we can make a difference.

Thank you.

Works cited
Archer, John (1978) Biological explanations of sex-role stereotypes. In Jane Chetwynd and Oonagh Hartnett (ed) The Sex Role System. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul (pp.4–17).
Bland, Lucy (1981) It’s only Human Nature?: Sociobiology and Sex Differences. Schooling & Culture, vol. 10 (pp.6–10).
Bookseller in association with Arts Council England and Decibel. In Full Colour. Bookseller, March 2004.
Bookseller. Books for All. Bookseller, June 2006.
Browne, Naima and Pauline France (1986) Untying the Apron Strings: Anti-Sexist Provision for the Under Fives (Gender and Education). Milton Keynes: The Open University Press.
Cadman, Eileen, Gail Chester and Agnes Pivot (1981) Rolling Our Own: Women as Printers, Publishers and Distributors (Minority Press Group Series No. 4). London: Minority Press.
Chester, Gail and Sigrid Nielsen (ed.) (1986) In Other Words: Writing as a Feminist (Explorations in Feminism). London: Hutchinson.
Fairweather, Hugh (1976) Sex differences in cognition. Cognition, vol. 4, no. 3 (pp.231–80).
Griffiths, Dorothy and Ester Saraga (1979) Sex differences and cognitive abilities: A sterile field of enquiry? In Oonagh Hartnett, Gill Boden and Mary Fuller (ed.) Sex Role Stereotyping. London: Tavistock (pp.7–45)
Klein, Gillian (1985) Reading into Racism: Bias in Children’s Literature and Learning Materials. London: Routledge.
Maccoby, Eleanor Emmons and Carol Nagy Jacklin (1974) The Psychology of Sex Differences. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
Macken, Walter (1968) Flight of the Doves. London: Macmillan.
McQuinn, Anna (illus. Rosalind Beardshaw) (2006) Lulu Loves the Library. Slough: Alanna Books.
Radcliffe, Ann (ed. Bonamy Dobrée) ([1891] 1966) The Mysteries of Udolpho (Oxford World Classics). Oxford University Press.
Women in Publishing (1980?) Directory. London: Women in Publishing.
Working Group Against Racism in Children’s Resources (1983) Guidelines and Selected Titles: 100 Picture Books. London: WGARCR.


Afterward
(While this was a historical review of the ebb and flo of the advances and retreats in the battle to make children’s books more inclusive and diverse, my views on changing one thing are highly influenced by not just Arthur Ashe but also the Action Steps arising out of the CBC Diversity event
A Place at the Table in the US last year. As a publisher, I felt that if I knew that everyone who attended (and those to whom they spread the message) did their best to enact any of the steps, then I could be more confident of finding a market for my books. And I could hopefully also persuade any less confident publishers that change was in the air and that they too could be confident to take a risk in publishing something that wasn't the safe, lowest common denominator).

Las Vegas (June 26–July 1) was the venue for the 2014 American Library Association Annual Conference attended by 18,626 librarians and exhibitors. To get a flavour, you can look at the Publisher's Weekly photo essay and this short video which sums it up better than I could...

A relentless program of speakers, book-buzz sessions, meetings, poster sessions, informal discussions and author signings means that the conference is all about learning and networking and reviving and replenishing. The library system in the US does not seem to me to have had quite the same hammering as it has been getting here in the UK in recent years (though school library services do seem to be struggling more than some other areas). So, while librarians of course struggle with budgets and shortages, they are inspiring in their enthusiasm. They may have been wilting in temperature nearing 110 degrees, but their spirits were high!

At the Bologna Bookfair last year, chatting to Martin West of Troika books, he was telling me about a wonderful and regular Chinese customer of his who always seemed slightly amused at Martin's enthusiasm for the books he was presenting. One year, when this gentleman arrived at Martin's stand, he opened the conversation by asking, "Well, Martin, what are you passionating about this year?"

I think this is a most fabulous word, and never does it seem so appropriate as when describing a group of enthusiastic librarians - boy, do they passionate! And there's nothing like a tribe of book lovers gathered in one place, passionating, to raise your spirits.

One of the many projects Kirsten is involved with is the Portland I'm your Neighbor project which uses children's books to build bridges between "new arrivals" and "long-term communities". 
The Portland project uses nine books in particular which were the focus of a 2013 city-wide read and I'm thrilled that my My Friend Jamal is one of the nine.

We actually did meet at ALA last year, and I had a long conversation with Kirstin's IYN colleague, Anne Sibley O Brien, but due to 'convention brain' we didn't recognize each other! So, it was brilliant to finally meet. We're hoping to work together on some more books with Annick Press in Canada (publishers of My Friend Jamal). It was great to kick off the convention with an intense debate about books featuring "new arrivals", the difficulties in writing about issues without creating an "issue" book, the challenges of representing communities and the danger (to steal Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's phrase) of a single story. We covered a lot of ground over Beg Wot and injera (not least because our Ethiopian taxi driver got caught up in a World Cup match on the TV and couldn't be dragged away until it was over!

After lunch I checked in with the fabulous team at Charlesbridge: Meg Quinn (Director, School & Library Markets - no relation unfortunately) and Donna Spurlock (Director of Marketing supremo).
Of course, this is when the photo for Publisher's Weekly gets taken - when I'm still hot from the 12 foot walk from the taxi to the Convention Center!

But there are always some talented but extremely nice people to meet on the Charlesbridge booth. It was great to be introduced to Rafael Lopez, illustrator of (among many books) the wonderful The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred (by Samantha Vamos who I was lucky to meet at last year's ALA). He explained his amazing painting technique to me (he works really really slowly) but if I told you I'd have to kill you (or he'd have to kill me... or something).

Unfortunately, Hazel Mitchell wasn't there either this year, but I was thrilled to be able to look at an advance copy of her Imani's Moon (written by JaNay Brown-Wood) - such a lovely book.
Who was there was Don Tate (illustrator of The Cart that Carried Martin, written by Eve Bunting) who I met a little later, but then he too was rushing off to something or other. If there's a problem with ALA it's that you meet so many interesting people that you really want to get to know better, but you have so little time to get to chat. But even in those few moments you can make a connection, find the person's website, start corresponding and then, maybe next time...

For me, it was time to rush back to the hotel to meet Suzanne Bloom and Yolanda Scott to finesse our presentation for the next day's Book Buzz.

Next morning, en route to BookBuzz, there was just time to visit the Lee & Low booth to pick up my #We need Diverse Books badge. Lee & Low have been publishing diverse books since 1991 and from the outset felt strongly that it was important to have books with contemporary settings that reflect how people live today rather than 'multicultural' folktales about exotic people from distant lands - so I'm a fan. They have been very active in the #we need diverse books movement and had a great flyer/poster with an action plan for more diversity (which I managed to lose). I'm going to try to locate it - check back here later for links.

Lee & Low's publisher, Jason Low, also hosted a Book Buzz session Moving the Needle: Diversity in Children’s Books and How to Make a Difference. I loved Jason's emphasis on moving forward (rather than getting stuck in the 'there are not enough diverse books' place). Jason said,  "we need to get from Diversity 101 stories—stories focused simply on the lack of diversity in children’s books, in very basic terms—to Diversity 102 stories, which address both the complexity of the problem and the range of possible solutions."

One of Jason's big announcements was that Kirkus Reviews will be seeking to diversify their reviewer pool, and that several other major review publications have expressed an interest in doing the same. Diverse reviewer pools mean that books can be evaluated for cultural accuracy and that reviewers bring a wide range of perspectives to the table.

In the absence of Lee & Low's action poster, CBC Diversity has a fantastic action plan - something everyone can follow regardless of what part of children's publishing they work in. To read more about the evolution of the #we need divers books campaign from hashtag through viral campaign to Incorporated Non-profit click here and here and for a round-up of the articles that got the ball rolling click here.

Book Buzz
At 11.00 sharp we were off:  Yolanda Scott Editorial Director extraordinaire at Charlesbridge (who were hosting the session), Suzanne Bloom author and illustrator extraordinaire (whose books I have the honour of publishing in the UK) and me - Early Ears, a Book Buzz session on choosing books for the youngest readers .

We kicked off at the young end and talked about what might be a suitable topic for a good board book - not shapes (arghhh - what toddler who is just learning to say Mama and juice can attempt rectangle?!)

And especially not wrong shapes- a ball is a sphere not a circle!!!!


My pet peeve out of the way, we moved on to Yolanda's peeves (books with no story arc)...
and more of mine - words out of context and out of scale...

I mean, look - how is it helpful for a young child to learn the word 'blossom' and look at an image of a branch not attached to a tree? And why is the rabbit three times the size of the lamb? (I know you know it's smaller in reality - but a small child looking at a book does not bring world knowledge to the experience! Give me patience!

Fortunately Suzanne was there to buoy us up with examples of wonderful language and visual literacy...

And Yolanda talked about the commercial issue around making board books work and we did finish with some books which, though very simple, had nice story arcs...

It went without saying (kind of) that all the books were inclusive and diverse...

I was really thrilled when Mara Price came to have a book signed - she was one of the writers I mentored during Highlights Foundation Writers' Conference in Chautauqua in  2008. We worked on her text Grandma's Chocolate and she has since had it published. It was SUCH a thrill to meet again and to be able to celebrate such a success!

After a busy day, there was only just time to change, have a quick chat with the ever-enthusiastic Ilse Crane from BookStop then we were off to the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet. So exciting! I am really grateful to Kerry McManus and the team at Boyds Mills Press for having me along and thrilled to end up sitting next to one of the authors of one of my favourite books, Busy Fingers - Wendie C. Old (published, of course, by Charlesbridge).

Proceedings were opened with a wonderful speech by Star LaTronica, President of ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children - a division of the American Library Association). 

Dazzled by her speech, not everyone realized that her (made) shoes were equally dazzling! Even more dazzling than those she wore to meet Obama, I think (but I'm more a book than a lego fan).

Dinner was interspersed with breaks for video clips - some of the best were of the honorees talking about when they got the call from the Caldecott committee. The funniest had to be the one from David Wiesner (for his book Mr Wuffles);

Then were were treated to two amazing acceptance speeches from Brian Floca winner of Caldecott Award for Locomotive and Kate DiCamillo winnder of the Newbery Award Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (illustrated by K.G. Campbell). Kate diCamillo's speech was really moving, and you can red it here.

It was tragic to have to head for bed to prepare for tomorrow when I wanted to mingle...

Then we were off! Starr LaTronica set the scene... and Rachel Payne introduced Amy Dickinson...

Amy Dickinson is AMAZING! Author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Story of Surprising Second Chances, she writes the syndicated advice column, Ask Amy, which is carried in over 150 newspapers and read by an estimated 22 million readers daily.

She really knew how to reel the crowd in - beginning with a funny piece on Librarians in Vegas, then moving to her childhood, tracing the development of her love of books...

...leading to her advocacy work, not least of which is her her collaboration with the Family Reading Partnership of Ithaca, New York to launch the campaign "A Book in Every Bed," that then sparked a national movement. First she made us laugh, then she made us cry! Standing ovation at the end!!

Well, that was a hard act to follow...
I kicked off by talking about the outreach work I did when I started working for Sure Start Acton.
For some reason, I thought dressing as Bob the Builder would help my cause! I have NO idea where that came from and I'm not sure the parents in the local health centre, drop in baby clinic, doctor's surgeries or anywhere else I went thought me anything but a bit odd...

I talked about the big lessons I learned at the beginning of that work - namely that we in the book 'industry' (whether writers, editors, librarians, early years workers or whatever) might understand that babies need books, but for many many parents, this is NEWS!
When one mum explained to me (with a patient but slightly pained smile) that there was no point in my offering her little one a book because "see, he's only a baby and he can't read yet" I went back to the drawing board and realised that before I could promote the library and the groups I was running there, I had to start at first principles and explain that babies could enjoy books.
I also had to work out how to deliver this message in about 60 seconds and in time, of course, I discovered that books themselves were the answer. I have a core 'kit' and find that 90% of babies react to this sad baby - often by crying themselves...

...and while it's not my objective in life to go round the country making small babies cry, when a parent sees this happen, it opens the door to a conversation (and got a laugh from my audience!).

I talked (of course) about book selection and the need for children to see themselves in books... but also the need for families to see themselves in the library space. Once we had run a few groups, I took photos which we turned into posters - so when families looked at out promotional materials AND when they saw the posters in the library, they saw people like themselves in the space and children like their children in the space (the actual space).

I talked about other ways to include families from diverse backgrounds - I could put the information in here but I think the full text will soon be available on the ALA site, so I'll add a link as soon as possible. You can read the report in School Library Journal here.

The programme closed with three short presentations from three librarians on partnership programs they are working on including one very moving one about working with families of prisoners. There's a guide to innovative partnerships here.


The conference ended (for me) with dinner with a wonderful collection of librarians, editors, illustrators and other book enthusiasts. Was happy to sit near Sharon McKellar and hear some of her thrilling taxi stories; and to debate with Monica Edinger and Roxanne Feldman - what a fabulous way to end the trip.

So thank you Starr and ALCS for the invitation to speak - it was a tremendous honour and a fabulous experience. And thanks Charlesbridge for the financial support and for being the absolute best team in the business - now for over 25 years - happy birthday people! It was wonderful to make so many new friends; to have the gift of time with old friends, and to be reminded of how special a life I lead as one of the passionate tribe of children's book lovers. Amen!