Today, the charity Inclusive Books for Children (https://www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org) revealed the findings of its new annual Excluded Voices report. The report seeks to establish the extent to which children’s books traditionally published over the last 10 years featuring main characters from marginalised backgrounds have been produced by creators sharing the same marginalised backgrounds.

Inclusive Books for Children (IBC) is a charity that aims for inclusive books to be mainstream. Their free website helps families, schools and libraries easily choose books for a more inclusive bookshelf.

There were 568 books identified for the study that were traditionally published in the UK from 2014 to 2023 for children aged 1 to 9, and contained main characters from minoritised ethnicities or who were disabled or neurodivergent.

The report found that:

● Of 568 books with marginalised main characters, only 41.5% were by British Own Voice creators.

● 78.3% of minoritised ethnic main characters were Black, or ambiguously Black or brown, and 53% of those were by white authors and illustrators. Representation of other ethnicities was relatively scarce.

○ Of the 142 picture book stories with a Black main character published over the decade, 45% were by a Black-British creator

○ Picture book stories with an ambiguously Black or brown main character were very much the preserve of white authors and illustrators, who contributed 83.3% of such books

● Just 24 and 25 picture book stories respectively featuring South Asian and East or Southeast Asian main characters were identified over the period

● The number of children’s books with disabled or neurodivergent main characters was very low, and the majority of those were produced by non-disabled, neurotypical authors and illustrators.

○ Of the six children’s fiction books published over the decade featuring a neurodivergent main character, none were by a neurodivergent creator

○ Of the 19 children’s fiction books with a disabled main character, 7 were by just three disabled creators.

● 90.2% of books for babies and toddlers featuring prominent characters of colour and disabled characters were by white, non-disabled authors and illustrators.

● The report concludes that there is an opportunity to create more sustainable and profound change, through more authentic representation that would resonate with a broader audience.

Marcus Satha, Co-founder of Inclusive Books for Children, said: ‘Commissions to create storybooks for younger children with main characters of colour, and disabled and neurodivergent protagonists, have been fulfilled primarily by white, able-bodied, neurotypical creators. Meanwhile, Own Voice representation in certain categories, by age and by marginalised group, remains vanishingly small. This approach is out of sync with the changing attitudes and demographics of the UK. Seeking out more diverse Own Voice talent and investing in their stories will likely pay significant dividends, over many years, to publishers brave enough to move away from the status quo.’

Fabia Turner, Head of Content for Inclusive Books for Children, said: ‘Publishing must make more space for marginalised creators who wish to tell their own stories, whether they are Black, Asian, disabled, neurodivergent or from any other under-represented group. This new vision of multiplicity in published includes Own Voice white creators, for example, disabled white authors or illustrators portraying disabled characters — another category woefully lacking in these stats.’ She added, ‘This document is a serious call to action for the whole of UK children’s book publishing to look beyond tokenistic, trend-driven commissioning, and pigeonholing of Own Voice creators into issue-only books, and instead address inclusivity more deeply, genuinely and rigorously.’

Satha added: ‘We are sceptical about the authenticity of representation that can be achieved by creators with no lived experience of the identity they seek to portray. Authors and illustrators should be able to exercise creative freedom of course but, given how few creators from marginalised groups are published, we argue that until the playing field is levelled, they should be first in line for commissions to tell their own stories.’

Contributors to the report, authors James and Lucy Catchpole said: ‘The IBC report looks under the bonnet of representation in children’s books, and asks: who are the creators behind these representations of marginalised characters? Is representation really improving if the characters we see are still being created by authors and illustrators with no first-hand experience of the identities of the characters in their stories?’

Author, illustrator and publisher Ken Wilson Max said: ‘The report highlights the lack of authentic voices, ones that are truly representative of any non-dominant community, in books for the early years age group.’

Teacher and author Jeffrey Boakye said: ‘It’s revealing that white creatives prefer to convey Black main characters over other so-called marginalised groups. To me, this highlights the focus and limitations of the white, mainstream gaze. Currently, Black characters are a visible proxy for “inclusion” overall, appeasing white anxieties over not being inclusive enough, despite the rich and varied legacies that so many other ethnic and minoritised groups also have to offer.’

Talking about what the publishing industry can do to move the needle, writer Maisie Chan said: ‘I think publishing often imagines the reader as white and therefore thinks that books with East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) characters (and other marginalisations) won’t sell. I think that is a little short-sighted since East Asia is a huge market and ESEA people are in fact, part of a global majority. I would urge British publishing to support ESEA and other marginalised creators in the long term with solid advances, proper marketing and a plan for long-term career success rather than a box-ticking exercise to fill diversity quotas. We don’t want to hear the phrase: “we already have someone like that on our lists”.’

Author Rashmi Sirdeshpande observed: ‘This research tells us a lot about which stories are considered “universal” and how diversity is often seen as a nice-to-have or even a trend where surface-level treatment is sufficient.’ She added, ‘Marginalised voices are not a monolith — we need a big and beautiful range to counter the dangers of the single story.’

Inclusive Books for Children has compiled a recommended reading list of the best-in-class British Own Voice children’s books. Click here to view the booklist. Click here to download the full report: (https://www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org/collections/own-voices)

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