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Portraits and Poison wins Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2024
Portraits and Poison (Farshore), the second instalment in J T Williams’ Lizzie and Belle middle-grade detective series, has been awarded the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2024.
The first in the series, Drama and Danger, was longlisted for the Little Rebels Award in 2023. Portraits and Poison explores a history of Black British activism, introducing young readers to Georgian-London and exposing the racist mechanisms at work in the conventions of Western portraiture.
Little Rebels Award judge, Farrah Serroukh, described the book as “a fantastic means of countering erasure across all spheres including artistic, fictional, historical and political; challenging misrepresentations while encased in a brilliantly crafted, engaging and accessible story.”
The organisers of the Little Rebels Award said: “We love how Portraits and Poison, with its themes of civil disobedience and rebellion, channels the spirit, energy and optimism of the Little Rebels Award.”
J T Williams was awarded £2,000, funded by the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust, £250 through the Gill Lewis Award – a sum that will be donated by the winner to a charity of their choice – and a limited edition print by Ken Wilson-Max, new for 2024 and commissioned by and exclusive to the award.
The winner’s announcement was made at the Little Rebels Award Ceremony, held at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education on Wednesday 16th October. It followed a panel discussion on centring radical fiction for children, chaired by Dr Darren Chetty and was attended by the 2024 shortlistees: Yaba Badoe, Jen Reid, Kate Rafiq, Harry Woodgate, J T Williams, James Catchpole and Karen George, Helen Rutter and Elisa Paganelli.
This is the 12th year of the Little Rebels Award, which celebrates radical fiction for children aged 0-12. Given on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB), it is administered by ARB members, Housmans Bookshop and Letterbox Library. It recognises children’s books which explore political ideas, challenge the status quo or promote social justice, social equality and a more peaceful and fairer world. In 2023, the award was won by Patrice Lawrence for Needle (Barrington Stoke).
The 2024 Little Rebels Award judges were: author-illustrator (and former award shortlistee) Emily Haworth-Booth, reading development and children’s book consultant, Jake Hope, research and development director at the Centre for Literature in Primary Education (CLPE), Farrah Serroukh, teacher and author Alom Shaha, illustrator, designer and lecturer, Soofiya.
