Our activities are the practical ways in which we make a difference for our community. For our theory of change and how our activities fit into it, please see here: how we make a difference.
Mentoring
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, families, 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). The scheme has run three times since 2016 and published mentees have returned as mentors, to inspire a new generation of writers.
Megaphone Community
Megaphone Community is a free forum that any children’s writer of colour can join. It provides responsive, broad writer development support on an ongoing basis, programmed according to the interests of the group. Recent workshops have included a session on self-publishing with Claire Linney, and an Open Conversation on ‘Being Authentic’: what it means for a minoritised children’s writer: read the notes here. Events are typically online, on Sundays. Contact us if you’d like to join. Above are just a few of the books by our Community members! More here.
A Thousand Stories Writers Conference
A Thousand Stories is our in-person writing conference for children’s writers of colour. It took place for the first time in 2026 in Birmingham with sponsorship from ALCS and we are currently planning the 2027 conference – to hear when we have updates, sign up to the newsletter. Speakers in the 2026 event included bestselling author Serena Patel, debut authors Abena Eyeson, Shireen Lalji and Mayo Agard-Olubo, an inspiring keynote from Eva Wong Nava on writing communities, and a panel on writing from heritage with G M Linton, Annika Hussein and Kereen Getten. Our writing competition found a fantastic, talented winner in Zahra Thandi and we heard from agents and editors too.
A Thousand Stories aims to connect, empower and support children’s writers of colour at all stages of their careers, to celebrate the diverse books that are out there now, and to give emerging children’s writers from diverse and under-represented backgrounds, an accessible, inclusive, inspiring event where they can develop their skills and networks, forge community, find writing friends, discover new paths and fresh directions to publication or audience, network with publishing professionals and authors, and become aware of new skills and approaches they may need in a swiftly changing publishing environment.
CIC number 13808064