More than half of children’s books with marginalised main characters are by writers and illustrators who do not share their protagonist’s identity, according to a new study.
The Excluded Voices report, published by charity Inclusive Books for Children (IBC), identified 568 children’s books published in the UK from 2014 to 2023 that contain main characters from “minoritised” ethnicities or who are disabled or neurodivergent.
It found that 78.3% of books with minoritised ethnic main characters were Black or ambiguously Black or brown, and that 53% of books with Black or ambiguously Black or brown main characters were by white authors and illustrators.
“It’s revealing that white creatives prefer to convey Black main characters over other so-called marginalised groups,” said author Jeffrey Boakye. “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.”
When it came to baby and toddler books published in the last decade, 90.2% of the 123 featuring marginalised main characters were by white authors and illustrators, while 83.9% were by white creators who do not share the identity of the protagonist. Only 3% of baby and toddler books with diverse casts were by creators from marginalised groups.
“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,” reads the report. “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.”
Of 325 picture books published in the last decade featuring a marginalised main character, just 24 featured a south Asian protagonist. “Despite the UK demographic data, south Asian representation in children’s books is on the floor, and in fiction these kids are often the sidekick and so rarely the main character,” said author Rashmi Sirdeshpande. Between 6.9% and 8.5% of the UK population is south Asian, according to IBC.
Just 25 picture books, aimed at children from three to seven, published in the last decade were found to feature east and south-east Asian (ESEA) protagonists, amounting to “negligible” representation, said the report. “We have been an invisible diaspora in British publishing until recently and have been seen either as the ‘model minority’ or ‘perpetual foreigners’,” said author Maisie Chan.
The report identified 17 children’s books featuring neurodivergent main characters published in the last decade, 12 of which were by neurotypical authors and illustrators.
IBC’s recommendations for books with marginalised main characters written by authors sharing their protagonist’s identity – categorised as “Own Voice” books – include Sona Sharma, Very Best Big Sister by Chitra Soundar, I Am Nefertiti by Annemarie Anang, and Too Green! by Sumana Seeboruth.
The report “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,” said Fabia Turner, head of content at IBC.
