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When I became disillusioned with international law, I turned towards books, my steady comfort, and I thought about how I might make a material difference in that world. – Cherise Lopes-Baker
Industry insights and positive change
Cherise Lopes-Baker is the executive commissioning editor for Tate Publishing. She came to publishing after studying international human rights law, and here she talks to Jake Hope about her journey.
A PASSION for books from a young she has seen Cherise Lopes-Baker forge a career in publishing. And that early passion has been strengthened by her commitment to justice, which is helping to shape the way she approaches her work.
“I learned a lot about politics and the atrocities happening in the world, as well as the lack of accountability transgressors often face due to systems of power being complicit. It’s taught me to always question systems of power and the inevitable imbalances – who has it, why, what are they doing with it, and to whom?” As well as influencing her overall world-view, this has also helped shape her approach to publishing. Cherise describes how she had been passionate about books from a very young age. “When I became disillusioned with international law, I turned towards books, my steady comfort, and I thought about how I might make a material difference in that world. I realised I wanted to help publish stories that were more representative and inclusive, particularly children’s stories so the next generation could grow up seeing themselves as well as, hopefully, a better future.”
Part of this change entailed studying for a masters degree with UCL and interning at arts publisher Laurence King, bookshop Shakespeare and Company, and Literary Agency Blake Friedmann giving a breadth of understanding across a range of industry sectors. She says: “A lot of the work I’ve done, particularly in children’s publishing, has healed a part of myself that was always looking for stories like these on traditionally white shelves.” Cherise’s dissertation focused on diversity in
Spring-Summer 2026
children’s publishing. “We didn’t yet have CLPE or anything like America’s CCBC report. I compared both the US and UK markets, went into bookstores and audited their stock, took note of their audiences, even looked into the psychological effect that the lack of diversity and representation has on children as they are growing, and I concluded that the lack of diversity was criminal. There was slim to none at the time, except a few breakout authors that were expected to represent entire communities, or exports from America, which was slightly ahead of the UK at that point.”
Cherise’s findings were frequently overlooked or else dismissed as being inflammatory. “A couple of years after this the CLPE released a report that confirmed that only on per cent of children’s books published in the UK in the preceding year had a main character of colour.”
Positive change has happened since then, but sadly also push-back. “Every win that we have made in that time, I have celebrated with joy and optimism and the knowledge that every little bit we accomplish makes a difference. However, I am also aware that the same institutional biases that I wrote about are present today, while the same reluctance from the industry to truly reform also exists. I’m still motivated to redress these inequities, and I try to do so not just through the books I publish, but also through trying to change the systems in the publishers I work for, and through creating industry-wide initiatives.”
Cherise hopes that if this work is still considered inflammatory, that it might serve as a catalyst for people to take note and, in turn, to take action. The research Cherise undertook found barriers
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