Thread by @Kastrel

Last panel of the day (feeling it a bit now). #CILIPConf18: voice and vision: the importance of diversity in children's and YA literature.

Nadia Shireen - creator of picture books. Held a competition asking children to write a story where the main character shared their name. Wanted to encourage "diversity"

Diversity does not just mean "not white", it's class and gender and sexuality and disability and regionalism and education level.

Juno Dawson: I want to talk less about myself and my gender, I want to talk about my work. White cis people don't need to talk about themselves to sell books. Publishing is still so middle class and white and based in London.

JD: no one author can change the landscape of fiction where hardly any characters are not white or not straight.

JD: writing is not a "level playing field" if you're not white, cis, middle-class, straight - your talent doesn't have a place there.

NS: the picture books I read as a child featured animals. I played with teddies not dolls. My latest book is the first of mine to feature a brown face and now I'm being asked about diversity.

JD: it is so much easier to read diverse books is in libraries - if you're afraid for your parents to see, or if you can't afford them, or need to be encouraged to try them.

Nicky Potter from Otter-Barry Books - it is harder to reach new communities when publishers need assurance that things will sell globally.

JD: The Hate u Give is a "diverse" book that was astoundingly commercially successful. Although authors have to imagine other people's experiences, I could not have written this book with the anger and true lived experience that Angie wrote it with.

JD: but also we need to protect Black British writing as well as African-American writing.

NS: we need ALL kinds of stories with diverse characters, not just earnest ones. JD: exactly. Not just coming out stories. Trans people can be funny too.

NS: there are books out there, I just want AN ABUNDANCE of these stories!!

JD: I've never worked with an editor who wasn't a straight white cis woman. And CEOs were all straight white men. Diversity in this industry will take time.

97% of library professionals are white, according to CILIP study. Argh.

JD: librarians, keep doing what you are doing, keep your finger on the pulse, keep buying these books, keep recommending them, keep nominating them.

NS: librarians are doing great work already. Picture books have a performative aspect as well.

JD: not all book awards are held to account like Carnegie and Kate Greenaway were. But then they are free to nominate for, don't need to be paid for by publishers, so there is an opportunity for more diversity.

JD: I would add "authenticity of voice" to criteria - is this a book that anyone else could have written?

Argh, the thread has broken somewhere up there. This is still #CILIPConf18, Voice and vision - diverse representation in children's and YA literature with Juno Dawson and Nadia Shireen and Nicky Potter of Otter-Barry books.

NS: I don't want this conversation to die out - needs to continue being driven forward.

NP: important to recognise that these new books will continue to be read year after year. And various literacy trusts and charities and libraries will buy them in bulk and provide them to schools etc.

NS: it's so important the regionality is addressed - it is too expensive for every keen author to move to London and be an intern. Libraries are regional connections to publishing.

JD: the great thing about being an author is you can do it from anywhere. Maybe the next generation will just be used to working remotely.

Qs: what does meaningful diversity in a library mean?
JD: it has to be year-round, make all your displays and conversations include diverse voices. A variety of stories.

Diversity is not a destination, it's a constant journey.

We should question ourselves and think about our positions. (Food for thought more generally) #CILIPConf18

Qn: seems like secondary school curricula have a part to play but there is quite a rigid, out of touch approach. And school libraries are having budget cuts.

JD: well, Michael Gove happened. And no more reading for pleasure and only WWI poetry.

JD: the genre that gets missed out is humour - it's so hard to write funny kids books! And also if you don't have a school library who will protect the bullied kids at lunchtime?

Qn: do you feel obligated to write your lived experience?
JD: yes, this is a thing. I deliberately avoided only writing about trans characters. Everyone assumed JK Rowling knew how to write a boy. This is tokenism.

NS: all my books have been about identity but they're nearly all animals. I'm lucky to be able to do that. I should be able to write books I want to write.

Thank you so much for this session, #CILIPConf18, a great discussion!

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