You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Quercus has secured the YA edition of anti-racism workbook Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad.
Publishing director Jane Sturrock bought UK and Commonwealth rights for Me and White Supremacy Young Adult Edition from Lorella Belli at the Lorella Belli Literary Agency Ltd on behalf of Folio Literary Management. It will be published on 3rd February 2022.
Me and White Supremacy began life as a 28-day Instagram challenge for people with white privilege to unflinchingly examine the ways that they are complicit in "upholding the oppressive system of white supremacy”. Quercus later published it in hardback in February 2020 and it was shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards 2021. Saad has been profiled in major news outlets in the UK and she was included in British Vogue’s September 2020 activism issue.
Quercus said: “Now with this Young Adult edition, Saad will help younger readers to feel more confident talking about white supremacy and anti-racism. She gives them the knowledge and practical tools they need to help change the world, now and for the generations that come after them. Saad has completely reworked the original to address readers of 11+ and of all races to help them explore and better understand racism. The book is based on the understanding that it is important for all young people to explore these topics, so they can grow into adults who know how to have conversations about race and racism as well as how to work together collectively to create an anti-racist world.”
The publisher said, like the original, this edition guides readers through the different concepts that contribute to white supremacy and explores how they can help dismantle it to create a fairer world. It can be worked through together as a group, in class, or individually, and over any period of time.
Sayd said: “This is the book I wish I'd had growing up, trying to navigate what it meant to be a Black girl growing up in predominantly white spaces. I wrote this book so that young readers of all racial backgrounds could have the language and context to speak about white supremacy and its impact, and become anti-racist change-makers. It is my hope that readers of this book will develop the ability to not only address racism with confidence, but also with compassion, as they do the work to explore and unpack how white supremacy harms us all.”
Sturrock added: “Layla's anti-racism work has been brought into hundreds of thousands of homes and workplaces around the world by those who want to begin the work of dismantling white supremacy. In this YA edition, Layla has completely rewritten the book for readers of 11+ and of all races. To me, this book feels even more fundamental and vital as it will make its way into the hands of the next generation of allies and young people of colour to help them feel more comfortable and confident talking about white supremacy and racism.”