Megaphone Mentoring for children’s writers of colour was started by children’s author and creative writing teacher Leila Rasheed in 2015. She realised how frequently she was the only writer of colour in a room at children’s publishing events, and that little diversity, reflection or representation of their lives, familes, experiences was available to children in their libraries and bookshops, even in a majority-minority city like her home town, Birmingham. Book Trust research found that between 2007 and 2017, fewer than 2% of children’s book authors had been British people of colour.
“If we want many different stories, we need many different story-tellers…Megaphone supports writers through the often painful process of writing a first novel… in the hope of making their novels into actual published books that can reach children and show them that they too have permission to tell their many stories.”
Leila Rasheed, from A Story about Stories, 2015
The first mentoring scheme produced critically acclaimed and prize-winning authors, Danielle Jawando (winner: Jhalak Prize, Great Reads Best Senior Novel, YA Book Prize, Diverse Books Award), Maisie Chan (winner: Jhalak Prize, Branford Boase Award) and Joyce Efia Harmer (Times Children’s Book of the Week). Later schemes have led to book deals and publication for Nazima Pathan (DREAM HUNTERS), Iqbal Hussain (THE NIGHT I BORROWED TIME) and many members of the wider Megaphone Community have also gained book deals and publication.
In 2020 former commissioning editor Stephanie King also came on board to support Megaphone Commuity, and in 2021 Megaphone Writers CIC was constituted in order to secure a sustainable future for an organisation whose aim is to benefit people of colour in children’s literature.
To date, the scheme has been funded on a project-by-project basis, with majority funding from Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants, and smaller funding from The Publishers’ Association, ALCS and Usborne Publishing. We have no structural funding and administration is mainly on a volunteer basis.
About Leila Rasheed
Leila Rasheed’s heritage is from Bangladesh and Barnsley but she was brought up in Libya before moving to Birmingham as a teenager. Around 15 of her books for children and teenagers have been published, by Scholastic, Usborne, Disney Hyperion, Stripes, Atom and others. Most recently, her historical fiction set in Roman Britain: Empire’s End, was shortlisted for the Tower Hamlets Book Award. “The story twists and turns, painting vivid characters and their realities in a human way against the backdrop of one of the Roman Empire’s trickiest times” – That Boy Can Teach blog. She has taught creative writing and mentored individual writers of all ages in a wide variety of settings, including on the University of Warwick’s MA in Writing, at Newman University, Lumb Bank for Arvon, for Writing West Midlands, for Middle Way Mentoring and in school workshops. She has also worked as a bookseller in Brussels and teaches professional writing skills to 6th formers for the Royal Literary Fund. Children’s literature has always been her passion, and she loves helping writers develop their skills and find their confidence, success and happiness in writing.
About Stephanie King
Stephanie King is a freelance editor, and founder of her own editorial business, Scribbling Suit. She joined Usborne Publishing as an Editorial Assistant and worked her way up to Commissioning Editor, enjoying over fifteen happy years there. At Usborne, Stephanie commissioned and edited an eclectic range of books for 7+ to YA by bestselling, award-winning authors including Pseudonymous Bosch, Vanessa Curtis, Sarah Hagger-Holt, William Hussey, Ann M Martin, Serena Patel, Michelle Quach, Meredith Russo, Darren Simpson and L A Weatherly. She has also been immensely lucky to work on titles by authors including Sophie Anderson, Claire Barker, Holly Bourne, Peter Bunzl, Phil Hickes, Geraldine McCaughrean, Jenny Pearson, K M Peyton, Hayley Scott and Tim Tilley.
CIC number 13808064