Narjas Zatat was born in Hungary to an Algerian dad and a Greek mum. When she moved to London at the age of eight, the question ‘Where are you from?’ became a bit of an existential crisis. As a child, she tried to understand her identity by writing stories. As an adult and journalist, she […]

Annabelle Sami is a writer, director and performer. She completed her MA in English Literature from Queen Mary University in 2018. It was whilst reading children’s books when babysitting that she realised there was a lack of representation of funny girls and diverse characters in children’s books – and she decided to do something about it. […]

Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs. The title alone gave me reason to pause and take in the moment. I was holding history in my hands. I was holding my history in my hands. What’s more, it had been written in a language that I could understand, music. Music […]

Janelle McCurdy is an author and fully-fledged gamer. Having started writing and querying at only sixteen years old, she joined JULA (Jo Unwin Literary Agency) in her early twenties. After graduating from Royal Holloway University with a Criminology and Sociology degree, Janelle moved back home to London, and began writing middle-grade fantasy, including her FAB Prize winning […]

Namina Forna is a young adult novelist based in Los Angeles, and the author of the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy novel, The Gilded Ones. Originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa, she moved to the US when she was nine and has been travelling back and forth ever since. Namina loves telling stories with fierce female […]

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a lawyer turned children’s author who writes a mix of fiction picture books and uplifting illustrated non-fiction. Her latest books are Never Teach a Stegosaurus To Do Sums, illustrated by Diane Ewen, and How To Change The World, illustrated by Annabel Tempest. When did you first start writing and when did you […]

Born in Trinidad, Ingrid Persaud won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2017 and the BBC Short Story Award in 2018. She read law at the LSE and was a legal academic before taking degrees in fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London and Central Saint Martins. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Prospect and Pree magazines. Ingrid lives in London and Barbados.

Casey Elisha is a London based children's author, best known for her debut title, Love Thy Fro. She is also the co-writer and Executive Producer of the musical adaptation of the book: Love Thy Fro: The Musical. Casey is passionate about diversifying the scope of children's literature, and promoting positive, accurate representation in all avenues of entertainment so children can see themselves in books, on stage, and on-screen. Over the summer, Casey organised the I Am... Short Story Competition for children and youths between 9-18. The winning entries were compiled into her new book, I Am... Short Stories.

We have so much work to do in publishing but it is good work, it is good trouble...We must speak our truth and stand for something.

If I could go back in time and give my younger self some advice, it would be to occupy the spaces you have earned without doubting yourself.

I have learnt to believe in my voice, that I have a story to tell, and my stories matter.