A poem about diversity in literature by Simran Divatia
The release of CLPE’s report Reflecting Realities left many people disappointed but perhaps not surprised by the results. The report had revealed a huge lack of diversity within children’s books, showing that in 2017, only 4% featured BAME characters, with only 1% of books having BAME main characters. Simran, an intern with Tiny Owl, captured her own feelings about the report in a poem, speaking as an Indian girl who has grown up with very little ethnic representation in the books she read as a child. Read it below:
Representation
1 %
I wrote white girls
with blonde curls
or red spiky hairdos
that my mane
could never be
1%
I drew characters
who looked like my friends
and never like me
none of them
were anything like me
4%
a background character
has my skin tone
a different sounding name
she mentions offhand
some ethnic food
and I am ‘represented’
4% is not enough
1% is not enough
for children holding books
like mirrors
and never seeing themselves
- Read an interview with publishers Delaram Ghanimifard and Ken-Wilson Max about their responses to the report
- Read Simran’s blog post about her response to the report
- The importance of diversity in children’s books
Visit our bookstore
Download book posters
Limited edition prints
Subscribe to Tiny Owl on YouTube!