Industry professionals respond to CLPE diversity report with a call for change

Publishers have responded to the “deeply concerning” drop in representative children’s books released in the UK last year as reported by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), with several reaffirming their commitment to inclusive stories while acknowledging there is “still much to be done”.

The Bookseller approached several presses ahead of the publication of this year’s CLPE Reflecting Realities survey to share that the number of children’s books featuring any racially-minoritised characters and those with racially-minoritised protagonists roughly halved year-on-year in 2023. Macmillan Children’s Books’ managing director Alison Ruane responded: “We know how important it is that children see themselves, their families and their communities represented in the books that they read, and so the decrease in representation of global majority characters evidenced in this year’s CLPE Reflecting Realities report is deeply concerning.”

She added: “We remain committed to publishing books for all children and have been developing a renewed DEI strategy for the children’s division, and our teams are benefitting from the expertise of our new head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Impact, Jodie Williams. We look forward to reviewing the full report in detail.”

"Our duty now is to take these numbers and interrogate what has gone wrong and where and how we will make changes so this doesn’t happen again"

– Aimée Felone, Knights Of managing director

A spokesperson from Simon & Schuster Children’s Books said the publisher “recognises that it’s hugely important for all readers to see themselves in the books that they read” and added: “We are committed to publishing diverse books for young readers across all age groups as our list grows.”

Meanwhile, a HarperCollins spokesperson commented: “The findings of this year’s report are sobering and challenging—it makes clear that there is a lot of work still to do. The shared mission of our two children’s divisions is to make every child a proud reader and we are committed to publishing a wide and inclusive portfolio of stories, themes, perspectives and characters that represent the lived experience of all children in the UK. Continuous progress is vital in our publishing and remains a focus for us.”

The findings did not come as a shock to some. Aimée Felone, managing director of inclusive children’s publisher Knights Of, deemed it “disheartening but unsurprising to see such a dramatic decline in representative children’s literature”. She continued: “Many of us were wary post-summer 2020 that the wave of acquisitions and promises from the industry were built on poor foundations; the numbers are unfortunately showing that to be true. This systemic problem that we have in publishing needs to be rooted out with considered and continued efforts and it’s evident that we are now in a period, once again, of regression.”

This echoes the keynote speech that Storymix founder and chief executive Jasmine Richards delivered at The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference in September, in which she addressed the book trade’s backslide on championing diverse stories. David Fickling Books managing and publishing director Liz Cross referenced this moment when considering the CLPE report, saying: “Listening to Jasmine Richards speaking at the Children’s Conference about the rollback she has observed in publishers championing stories from writers of colour was a clear and powerful message—and these stark statistics back that message completely. There is much for us to review, reflect on, and translate into action.”

After seeing the top-line statistics from the survey, Richards told The Bookseller: “CLPE’s Reflecting Realities report lays bare what many of us already know: progress isn’t inevitable. It requires constant effort and accountability. The drop in diverse representation is disappointing but it is not surprising because anyone who was paying attention could see it coming a mile off. Thank goodness for the numbers because they speak for themselves—and they are speaking pretty loudly.”

She added: “After the recent election in the US, there has been a lot of conversation about how we must collectively make and support culture and art that fosters empathy and eradicates division—that this will be our greatest weapon. Is children’s publishing in the UK up for the fight? We had riots this summer. Is now really the time to lean into homogeneity?”

"CLPE’s report lays bare what many of us already know: progress isn’t inevitable"

– Jasmine Richards, Storymix founder and chief executive

Several publishers hailed the value of the CLPE research. A spokesperson from Penguin Random House Children’s commented: “CLPE’s work in this space is incredibly important and we look forward to reading and meaningfully engaging with their full report. It is imperative that DEI and the quantity and quality of minority representation remains top of the agenda in publishing, including through data collection, knowledge sharing and dialogue.”

They continued: “This is a journey we are on together as an industry, and while our own internal auditing does indicate some good year-on-year progress in this area, we acknowledge there is still much to be done. We will continue to closely monitor our own progress to identify gaps in minority representation, and to reach and publish diverse talent, including individuals from our WriteNow programme.”

Usborne managing director Nicola Usborne described the Reflecting Realities project as “hugely valuable” for the independent publisher’s work, expanding: “Assessing and analysing our own output, annually, and absorbing the insights from the industry-wide report have undoubtedly helped us in our efforts to create books which much better reflect our readership. The large in-house editorial and design teams at Usborne who conceive, write and design the majority of our books have welcomed the learnings from the annual Reflecting Realities report, and we are pleased that our submission data shows a significant improvement over the years since the first report was published.” She referenced Serena Patel’s Anisha, Accidental Detective series on Usborne’s middle-grade-fiction list and her upcoming series Pia’s Pet Club, which will also feature a British Indian main character, as well as Usborne’s “new fiction books featuring diverse central characters and supporting casts, from authors including G M Linton, Radhika Sanghani and Ashley Thorpe”.

"We and the industry as a whole must make sure we don’t see this as a publishing trend. Diversity in children’s books must become the norm"

– Charlie Sheppard, Andersen Press publishing director

Charlie Sheppard, publishing director at Andersen Press, called the reports “a much-needed wake-up call”. She said: “While I can’t speak for the whole industry, certainly at Andersen Press we have taken the findings seriously and pride ourselves on how we have championed and amplified minority voices to reflect the families, classrooms and communities around the UK and beyond. Representation went up on our list from 2022 to 2023 and the vast majority of our books with human characters have minorities represented.” She highlighted recent publishing including the Luna Loves series by Joseph Coelho, Hiba Noor Khan’s Jhalak Children’s Prize-winning Safiyyah’s War and J P Rose’s Birdie.

Sheppard added: “We are constantly on the look-out for more voices that need lifting and amplifying... But we are mindful that there is always more to be done. We and the industry as a whole must make sure we don’t see this as a publishing trend. Diversity in children’s books must become the norm and be here to stay.”

Felone also looked to the future, commenting: “Having experienced first-hand the decline in appetite for racially minoritised stories, there is no ‘quick fix’ or ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to sustained change. Our duty now, as an entire industry, is to take these numbers and interrogate what has gone wrong and where and how we will make changes so this doesn’t happen again.”

Read more responses to the CLPE Reflecting Realities report here.