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New Models for Engagement: Independent Publishing After 1990

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Children’s Publishing and Black Britain, 1965-2015

Part of the book series: Critical Approaches to Children's Literature ((CRACL))

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Abstract

Following the playground murder of 13-year-old Ahmed Iqbal Ullah by a fellow student in 1986, many British people criticized the intense national focus on issues of race, and particularly Anti-Racism, as detrimental to racial harmony. This chapter looks at the way that two different publishers concerned with Black British and BAME child readers dealt with the backlash against Anti-Racism: Verna Wilkins, who in starting up Tamarind Press aimed to produce books about “ordinary” British characters who “happened” to be Black; and Jackie Ould, who through her work with the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Trust encouraged multi-racial groups of children to become involved in book production—and Black history at the same time.

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Sands-O’Connor, K. (2017). New Models for Engagement: Independent Publishing After 1990. In: Children’s Publishing and Black Britain, 1965-2015. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57904-1_5

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