hope would be to show a rise in British ‘own voice’ characters in books for a UK population. But of the 166 stories featuring main characters from these groups, only 79 were written by British ‘own-voice’ authors. That is 49.1 per cent. The year before that (2023), it was 49 per cent and before that it was 48 per cent (2022) – almost static. Looking closer highlights a problematic trend at this higher level – where all groups are looked at together – which is that while the number of non-own voice – usually all white author/illustrator teams – has decreased, the gap has been filled by international own voice creators, rather than UK own voice creators.
International
The report explains that “Statistics on books by ‘International Own Voice’ creators have been provided in addition to data on ‘British Own Voices’ because such books can often feel like transplanted representation at the expense of finding and investing in home-grown talent.” It said: “Instead of investing in or nurturing homegrown talent to diversify their lists, it appears UK publishers are sometimes either favouring international talent for British publications or publishing co-editions to plug a gap.” The overall picture shows that while the proportion of UK non-own voice creators dropped from 39 per cent to 29 per cent, the gap was filled by international own voice creators, from 12 per cent to 22 per cent. As explained above, the proportion of British own voice creators has remained the same. Looking in more detail, the issue affects some groups more than others. For example, the report says: “In Picture Books, we observed a steep increase in the number of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) representation main characters over the three-year period, again albeit from an extremely low base. However, in 2024, not a single one of these was authored or illustrated by a British Own Voice creator.”
Biggest fall
Books with Black main characters fell by 21.5 per cent – from 65 books in 2023, to 51 in 2024. But again, the detail shows the problem is different in different segments. In picture books the overall number of books published with Black main characters fell but the number with British own voice characters rose. The biggest changes were in Children’s Fiction where the downturn in the total number of books with Black main characters fell so sharply, down from 20 books in 2023 to 10 in 2024 – that it was inevitable that the number of Black- British Own Voices would be lower, falling from 14 in 2023 to 7 in 2024. Jasmine Richards, author and founder
Autumn-Winter 2025
of Storymix, says: “The steep drop in books for five to nine-year-olds featuring Black main characters is not just disappointing – It’s further evidence of the quiet rollback that has taken place over the last two years. And if you’ve been paying attention, it’s not a surprise. Thank goodness for the data because what isn’t measured can’t be changed.” She adds: “The same publishers who rushed to acquire stories with Black protagonists in 2020 are more hesitant to acquire in 2025. But children haven’t changed. Children still want to see the world reflected back at them just as much as they want to read about worlds they don’t know. Black children are still here and still deserve to see themselves on shelves, not just as one-offs. Parents and carers and librarians still want to buy books that celebrate the diversity of our communities and British creators of colour still have stories to tell, if only they’re given the chance to tell them.”
Broad view
The Excluded Voices report found interesting details in the other areas it covered. It found that:
● 1.3 per cent of book main characters were of South Asian heritage, compared with around 12.5 per cent of pupils in England’s nursery and primary schools.
● East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) representation was also lacking, with only 0.8 per cent of books featuring ESEA protagonists, despite approximately 2.6 per
cent of young pupils being of ESEA heritage;
● only seven books featured disabled main characters (most were created by non-disabled authors or illustrators), and six featured neurodivergent main characters;
● just 2.8 per cent of books for babies and toddlers featured marginalised main characters Fiction for children aged three years and up, as well as broader sub- genres for toddlers aged one to three, was examined for the report.
Missed opportunity
Marcus Satha, co-founder of IBC, said: “We know that if children feel invited into the world of books, when they recognise elements of themselves in the pages, they are more likely to form a love of reading. Never has it been more important to lean into inclusive strategies like this, to give reading for pleasure the best chance of taking root and flourishing.” He added that: “‘Far-right agitators are threatening the peace and security of people from minoritised ethnicities. This underlines how essential it is that creatives with marginalised identities be brought into the fold of children’s publishing. The report highlights the huge missed opportunity to show children, through high-quality, authentic storytelling, that everybody belongs and everybody adds value to society.” PEN&INC
● Read the full report here:
www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org/excluded- voices-report
PEN&INC. 33
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