Inclusive Young Adult Fiction ― Authors of Colour in the United Kingdom

This book examines ‘diversity’, or the lack thereof, in young adult fiction (YA) publishing. It focuses on cultural hegemony in the United Kingdom and explores how literary culture aimed at young adults reproduces and perpetuates ‘racial’ and ethnic cultural hierarchies. Diversity is described by the We Need Diverse Books project as ‘all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities’. This study focuses on people of colour. While previous studies have looked at the representation of ethnic minorities in books for children and young adults, this book examines the experiences of ‘own voice’ cultural producers that create a counter-narrative. Specifically, this book will investigate the output and experiences of British young adult fiction authors of colour (BAME authors) published in the UK during the period 2006-2016, drawing upon semi-structured interviews with a sample of authors.

Melanie Ramdarshan Bold is Associate Professor at University College London, UK. Her main research interest centres on contemporary authorship, publishing, and reading, with a focus on children's and YA books. Her forthcoming book, Activism and Young Adult Publishing: Anthologies as Advocates for Change, will publish in 2019. Melanie is currently working on an interdisciplinary research project, Adolescent Identities, which investigates how YA reflects the realities of minoritised readers. She was a judge of the UKYA Book Prize in 2018.