Photo Credit: Bank Street Book Store Story Hour in New York City, May 2016
I attended a recent conference and felt a sense of disappointment. I learned a lot but I realized that I was, once again, one of few children's book authors of colour in attendance and no presenters of colour. I love my Canadian #kidlit colleagues. I do. I have learned lots over the 8 years since I began attending children's and multi-genre literature workshops, classes, conferences, critique groups, and meetings, but I am often the only person of colour in the audience, if one of few. I also wondered, am I the only one seeing this issue? The only one bothered by the lack of diversity? I thought about the many self-published authors of colour I know including the ones in the group I started four years ago, called Sankofa's Pen (formerly African-Canadian Writers for Children and Young Adults). Where were they? I thought about the middle school students I teach who are 99% black and brown, from South Asian, African, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, and South-East Asian backgrounds... in Toronto. Who from these communities is writing the books that will be mirrors for my Canadian students? I felt the weight on my heart... to say something about it... again.
Many of the presenters at Canadian Society for Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers (CANSCAIP) Packaging Your Imagination (PYI) Conference 2016 in Toronto
Sankofa's Pen (formerly known as African-Canadian Writers for Children and Young Adults) authors and illustrators at Book Bash at A Different Booklist bookstore in Toronto, ON, Fall 2015
And then in mid-November, my publisher Sheila Barry at Groundwood Books, passed away. She was a diverse children's literature advocate and an ally. She published my first two picture books, Malaika's Costume and Malaika's Winter Carnival, that featured the separation and migration story of a Caribbean girl in her "Caribbean patois" voice by a new author. (Sheila took smart chances and knew the first book would be a hit. I always wondered how she was able to know this about the books she acquired.) The weight on my heart grew. I felt it more after attending the TD Canadian Children's Literature Awards the following week and it became the focus of my presentation scheduled in November where I spoke to Toronto public librarians about the need for more diversity in children's literature. The title of my presentation was "Who Will Hold the Pen?"
Contract signing day: Publisher Sheila Barry and I at the Groundwood Books offices in Toronto, 2014
My Groundwood publisher, the late Sheila Barry, was a children's literature diversity advocate. She acquired my first two picture books (ever) in the Malaika series. This was at my book launch in August 2016, the last time I saw her.
Author Rukhsana Khan and I at the 2016 TD Canadian Children's Literature Awards at the Carlu in Toronto
According to statistics from the University of Wisconsin's Cooperative Children's Book Center in 2016, less than 6% of books were by written by people of colour and 2.8% by Black people in the United States. Zetta Elliott's list showed 59 middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) titles by African-American authors in 2016. As low as these stats were, how did the numbers compare in 2017? And how do we compare in Canada? As small as these American statistics may seem, the numbers in Canada are much more concerning and I feel like it cannot only be attributed to our smaller population.
Me, Zetta Elliott, and Carol-Ann Hoyte, three African-Canadian authors at Kweli: The Color of Children's Literature Conference in New York City, April 2016
Children's literature authors Zetta Elliott and Linda Trice came out to support at Grandma's Place bookstore, my "Malaika's Costume" book signing in Harlem, May 2016
Fact: Black people make up about 2.2% of the Canadian population and 14% in the United States. Fact: Zetta Elliott, an African-Canadian children's author and scholar based in the US for the last 20 years, compiled the 2017 list of MG & YA African-American titles which as of today totals 68. If Canada maintained race-based statistics in publishing, which it doesn't but was something my late publisher Sheila Barry at Groundwood Books advocated for, we would see clearly that the number of MG and YA titles by African-Canadian is disproportionate. By taking the US statistics as a guide and doing some simple algebra, we can see that Canada should have 11 MG and YA titles by African-Canadians. Or, another way to look at it is dividing 68 titles by 10 the US publishing market is often seen as ten times larger than that of Canada and since the Canadian population and publishing market is at least 10 times smaller than the US. This still gives a total of 7 titles by African-Canadian MG and YA authors.
However, upon my search for Canadian MG and YA titles published in 2017, I was only able to find two titles that fit this category which are Dirk McLean's Team Fugee and Tournament Fugee (Lorimer). This is abysmal. In terms of the picture book category, there were three-- Malaika's Winter Carnival by me (Groundwood Books), Greetings, Leroy by Itah Sadu (Groundwood Books), and Walking Bathroom by Shauntay Grant (Nimbus Publishing). Note: If I am missing any other traditionally-published books in Canada in 2017 written by African-Canadian authors, please let me know.
However, upon my search for Canadian MG and YA titles published in 2017, I was only able to find two titles that fit this category which are Dirk McLean's Team Fugee and Tournament Fugee (Lorimer). This is abysmal. In terms of the picture book category, there were three-- Malaika's Winter Carnival by me (Groundwood Books), Greetings, Leroy by Itah Sadu (Groundwood Books), and Walking Bathroom by Shauntay Grant (Nimbus Publishing). Note: If I am missing any other traditionally-published books in Canada in 2017 written by African-Canadian authors, please let me know.
In light of Uzma Jalaluddin's article "Book publishing ought to represent a diverse society" published in The Toronto Star Thursday, January 4, 2018 (the same day as Zetta's 2017 African-American MG and YA list was published) and my article called "Who Will Write Our Stories?" published in The Canadian Children's Book Centre magazine in Fall 2014 about the lack of diversity in Canadian children's literature, we still have a long way to go. As indicated in Elliott's 2010 survey of Black Canadian children's literature that indicated there are books being written featuring or about Black children however, the number of authors of colour creating this books is still highly under-represented. Simply put, we need more #diversekidcanlit and our kids need to see themselves, "mirrors", portrayed more now than ever before. Canada also needs tools to track numbers so we can be sure that we are publishing content by children's, MG, and YA authors of colour.
I do realize that my statements and findings may run contrary to what is popularly thought about Canadian children's literature. Retired Toronto public librarian and author Ken Setterington published an article called "How Canada Publishes So Many Diverse Books" in August 2016 with the School Library Journal. In it, he surveys Canadian children's publishers for how they create diverse books. Such publishers, like Groundwood Books which launched my first picture books, are creating diverse books. There have also been strides in recognizing children and young adult books by First Nation, Métis, and Inuit authors through organizations like CODE. Most recently, Canadian Métis author Cherie Dimaline has received critical acclaim for her young adult novel The Marrow Thieves both north and south of the border. There is also the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) which will take place this May in Brampton, Ontario. Currently in its third year, this event highlights the work of diverse authors in Canada.
However, the authors of Canadian published works about African-Canadians and Black experiences are largely by non-African-Canadians. This is also the case in the United States. However, the difference between both Canadian and American industries is that the need for diversity is more openly discussed, surveyed, and addressed. The US also has several initiatives in place to increase the number of authors of colour who get published and diversify the children's publishing industry, such as We Need Diverse Books, VONA Voices, Kweli: the Color of Children's Literature Conference, and SCBWI Diversity Grants to name a few. The lack of diversity in the creators of children's literature is not a topic frequently discussed. NOTE: I participated in VONA Voices workshop for writers of color and Kweli and applied for a SCBWI Multicultural Work-In-Progress Grant in 2016. Again, this discussion may be a reflection the difference of how race and diversity are addressed in Canada versus the United States but what it does achieve is progress toward greater diversity in children's book creators.
I am often asked how to get published by people of colour who are working on their own stories. I know African-Canadian writers who are, more often, self-publishing their own books, partly as their first choice over traditional publication but also because they have faced rejection from publishers (as is the case with most authors). When we don't create enough opportunities for children's book creators of colour than the numbers of published and diversity of stories is limited.
As a Canadian children's book author who is often the only person of colour in the room and a teacher who has difficulty finding books that reflect the children I teach, I feel that it's time we have discussions about this disparity.
I do realize that my statements and findings may run contrary to what is popularly thought about Canadian children's literature. Retired Toronto public librarian and author Ken Setterington published an article called "How Canada Publishes So Many Diverse Books" in August 2016 with the School Library Journal. In it, he surveys Canadian children's publishers for how they create diverse books. Such publishers, like Groundwood Books which launched my first picture books, are creating diverse books. There have also been strides in recognizing children and young adult books by First Nation, Métis, and Inuit authors through organizations like CODE. Most recently, Canadian Métis author Cherie Dimaline has received critical acclaim for her young adult novel The Marrow Thieves both north and south of the border. There is also the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) which will take place this May in Brampton, Ontario. Currently in its third year, this event highlights the work of diverse authors in Canada.
However, the authors of Canadian published works about African-Canadians and Black experiences are largely by non-African-Canadians. This is also the case in the United States. However, the difference between both Canadian and American industries is that the need for diversity is more openly discussed, surveyed, and addressed. The US also has several initiatives in place to increase the number of authors of colour who get published and diversify the children's publishing industry, such as We Need Diverse Books, VONA Voices, Kweli: the Color of Children's Literature Conference, and SCBWI Diversity Grants to name a few. The lack of diversity in the creators of children's literature is not a topic frequently discussed. NOTE: I participated in VONA Voices workshop for writers of color and Kweli and applied for a SCBWI Multicultural Work-In-Progress Grant in 2016. Again, this discussion may be a reflection the difference of how race and diversity are addressed in Canada versus the United States but what it does achieve is progress toward greater diversity in children's book creators.
I am often asked how to get published by people of colour who are working on their own stories. I know African-Canadian writers who are, more often, self-publishing their own books, partly as their first choice over traditional publication but also because they have faced rejection from publishers (as is the case with most authors). When we don't create enough opportunities for children's book creators of colour than the numbers of published and diversity of stories is limited.
As a Canadian children's book author who is often the only person of colour in the room and a teacher who has difficulty finding books that reflect the children I teach, I feel that it's time we have discussions about this disparity.
Toronto-Star columnist and teacher, Uzma Jalaluddin
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