‘Do black people read?’ What my years in publishing have taught me about diversity in books | Natalie Jerome | Opinion | The Guardian

This week Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts and Crosses, told Channel 4 News that of the many books she read as a child "not one of them featured a black child like me", adding that "it made me feel invisible in the world of literature". And when, in her mid-20s, she noticed in a children's bookshop that little had changed, "that's when I decided that I wanted to write for children ... for the child in me, really, for all the books I wish I could have read as a child".

Blackman's books have now sold over a million copies, but sadly, aside from her groundbreaking novels, little has changed. When the Guardian analysed the top 100 bestselling illustrated children's books published last year, only five were found to have featured a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) character in a central role, with three of those being the same character, the malevolent mixed-race burglar Lanky Len from the What the Ladybird Heard series. Almost 70% of the books with illustrations of minority characters featured them in only non-speaking roles. Not a single author or illustrator on the list was identified as BAME.