Fostering diversity in children’s book publishing
Children’s books shape the world view we grow up with. It is important for children to be able to recognize themselves in stories, illustrations, and narratives and, at the same time, to learn about the different realities of life around them. Does children’s literature in Germany, Finland and other (Northern) European countries today reflect the diverse societies in which we live, or does it make a growing proportion of its young population invisible?
Since equal participation is a key question facing Europe’s increasingly diverse societies, the DRIN project addresses the need to empower and enable everyone to participate in our societies. How can alternative, under-represented narratives, voices and images be introduced? What good examples can we share? And what can the various players in this field – authors, illustrators, publishers, libraries, and readers – learn from each other?
This one-day seminar brings together the learnings and networks that have been created in the DRIN project since 2018. It will take a look at the structures behind the book by giving the word to actors of the different phases: from education to writing and illustrating, from publishing to using the book in libraries and schools. The aim of this day is to discuss and bring forward the diversification of structures and actors of the children’s book market.
At the beginning of the seminar, we launch the publication In Our Own Words: BIPOC Perspectives in Children’s Literature that was created as part of the DRIN project and which focuses on the importance of bringing more diversity not only to the stories but to the structures of the book industry as well.
To read the programme of the event and to register, click here.