In a television interview, I said that diversity in our children's books should include the adventures of disabled children, travellers and gipsies, LGBT teens, different cultures, classes, colours, religions. It shouldn't be a token gesture, nor do such stories need to be 'issue-based'.
Interpretation
Diversity in children's literature should reflect real experiences and cultures without being superficial.
In this quote, Malorie Blackman advocates for authentic representation in children's literature, emphasizing the importance of including a wide range of experiences, cultures, and identities. She argues that such diversity should not merely serve as a token gesture or revolve around specific social issues, but rather should be integrated into the narratives to provide a richer, fuller understanding of the world for young readers.
In practice
In a discussion about modern children's literature during a book club.
What I wanted to do was use literature and different kinds of stories and poems as a springboard, tapping into the creativity of our teens - I wanted teenagers to come up with their own creative responses to literature - using books themselves as a starting point.
I remember going into a bookshop, and the only book I saw with a black child on the cover was 'A Thief in the Village' by James Berry, and I thought, 'Is this still the state of publishing?' Then I thought, 'Either I can whine about it or try to do something about it.'
I hope to instill, in every child I meet, my love and enthusiasm for reading and stories.
Children will go with any story as long as it's good, but white adults sometimes think that if a black child's on the cover, it is perhaps not for them.
History should belong to all of us, and it needs to include people from different cultural backgrounds. Otherwise, it risks becoming irrelevant to children, who could then become disenchanted with education.
I read a lot of highly unsuitable books for an 11-year-old. I was desperate to read as widely as possible. I thought, 'There are so many places I am never going to get the chance to visit, but I can if I read them.' And I did. I could go anywhere in the world - and off it - by reading.
Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another.
Trying to make a feature film yourself with no money is the best film school you can do.
What a blessing it is to love books as I love them;- to be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the unreal!
Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of books, even the smell... Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the borrowing.
I think if you're going to master policy, especially world affairs, you've got to know history.
Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
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