Brixton will this month host a groundbreaking pop-up children’s bookshop stocked with books featuring BAME (Black and minority ethnic) characters.
The #ReadTheOnePercent Bookshop is a response to a report published earlier this year, showing that only 1 per cent of the 9,000-plus children’s fiction books published in the UK in 2017 featured a BAME main character.
Run by the inclusive children’s publisher Knights Of, the pop-up will be staffed by expert children’s booksellers and will host events featuring best-selling BAME authors.
Aimée Felone, co-founder of Knights Of, said: “Inclusive books are seen as niche and often shelved separately. The #ReadTheOnePercent Bookshop ensures that that cannot happen, by stocking only inclusive books.
“Everyone should see themselves in the books they read and Brixton is the perfect community to embody that spirit.”
A full list of events is due to be announced and will include an industry party to celebrate the first year of Knights Of.
Founders Aimée Felone and David Stevens publish commercial children’s fiction that is distributed throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe.
They focus on ensuring that the most inclusive team possible – from across backgrounds and communities – works on every book they publish.
They work with retailers to make bookshops approachable by communities and families who do not regularly visit bookshops, and support events, outreach, marketing and partnerships.
In areas without bookshops, they focus on non-traditional community spaces as well as schools, libraries and youth groups.
The pop-up, by the Coldharbour Lane entrance to Market Row, is due to run from Wednesday 24 to Monday 29 October.
