“If you work with children, you realise how important these things are.” Konnie has a tremendous amount of faith in children and young people, and sees their potential to shape a future that is more inclusive, more representative and more tolerant. She says enabling them to see themselves and to gain insights into new cultures through the books they read will be invaluable. For many that means accessing books through their local library, something that Konnie remembers fondly. “One of the things I remember is going to the library every week– it was a quite small library, but it was on the walk home from school. Back then you could take out three books a week and I remember that choosing which books I wanted was often really difficult. “You could have five that you wanted, but you knew you had to get that down to three so you had to pore over the books and decide which made the shortlist. Then there were some books that I absolutely loved and I would take out over and over again, but you could only renew things three times before it had to go back in.” That excitement at a new book or
finding a familiar and loved title amongst the shelves did not hide the fact that there were very few titles that featured meaningful representation of BAME communities. Konnie says: “In books I didn’t see anyone with whom I resonated. It was quite rare to see anyone like me. There was an international section at the local library, but there was only ever five or six books in there and they would be about Anansi from the village who would pick mangoes – and obviously, that wasn’t my
experience either.
“The range of books is definitely getting better compared to when I was growing up. We are getting books that have children from all backgrounds – Asian, black, Bangladeshi, or wherever. It’s the same for children with disabilities, from different social classes, because we are starting to realise that this is what representation is about.”
Resonating with readers Konnie’s own creation Cookie is helping to redress the balance, featuring a Bangladeshi protagonist and a prominent black character. But it is not a book about race, it is a book about childhood and fun – again it is about the things we share rather than focusing on the things that makes us different. As the CLPE’s latest Reflecting Realities report (see p. 17) points out, there are too many children’s book where the BAME characters are built around struggle or adversity. Konnie says: “With Cookie, it was very important to me that it wasn’t about her background as an issue. I didn’t want it to be tokenism. Cookie is this kid, who in lots of ways is just like every other kid. And just like every other kid, she has these differences. It shouldn’t really matter whether those differences are stamp collecting, or train-spotting or your cultural background. It’s about who you are as an individual.” As well as writing Cookie, Konnie also did the illustrations – bringing Cookie to life using pen and ink drawings and thought bubbles. She says: “I had real fun doing the illustrations in Cookie, showing the things
going on in her head. It’s important to see things from different angles sometimes and the illustrations are a really good way of doing that. “It makes it easy to see how ridiculous society can be at times by using that device. I don’t want to come across as too worthy, I want it to be fun.” She adds that hearing Elizabeth Acevedo’s speech after The Poet X won this year’s Carnegie Medal was an inspiration (Konnie hosted the ceremony for the 2019 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway children’s book awards). Konnie says: “Elizabeth Acevedo said that she was surprised that the book did so well in the UK because she thought she was writing a niche book – part of it is in Spanish, it’s about someone from an ethnic minority and features a poetry slam. All of these things are niche for a UK audience, but then she summed it up by saying she realised that the set dressing might be niche, but the things that are important, the feelings, the emotions, the story – are universal and those are the things that resonate with readers.” PEN&INC.
Cookie and the Most Annoying Boy in the World is published by Piccadilly Press ISBN 9781848128095.
16 PEN&INC.
Autumn-Winter 2019
Konnie interview
pp.14-15.indd 4
29/10/2019 11:58
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
