website and them who wanted a Twitter account. They are involved and can respond to those questions. Most of them are a bit older now, but it has given a real sense of how children and young people can be involved.”


The principle of involvement that is evident in You Can is nothing new to Alexandra, who has been passionate about the inclusion of lived experience in books through her work with Inclusive Minds which she co-founded with Beth Cox. That project has seen the creation of a network of Inclusion ambassadors – young people with a range of lived experiences that they are willing to share with authors and publishers to


18 PEN&INC.


help ensure an authentic voice is heard (some of these Inclusion Ambassadors contributed to You Can). Inclusive Minds is now 10-years-old, and is increasingly influential in bring diverse voices and lived experiences into children’s literature. Alexandra says: “It started out as a collective, an umbrella that brought people who had the same aims together. At the time, we were surprised that nothing like it existed, pulling people together and encouraging collaboration. There was also a sense that publishers were increasingly aware of this need, but did not really know where to turn to get access to right tolls and expertise to create more inclusive books.


“We started running our Place at the table event, which was really pivotal because that enabled publishers to come together and identify problems, challenges and barriers – which helped to find the solutions. We would go away between the conferences and we would try to take down those barriers. When they said they couldn’t find access to people with lived experience, we said we could help and that was the start of our Inclusion Ambassadors.


“There were all sorts of people out there who were desperate to share their experience – not just willing, but actively keen to share.”


Alexandra says there has been a Spring-Summer 2022


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