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Excluded Voices report

Own Voice representation in the creation of UK children’s books

We are proud to present the third Excluded Voices report.

This annual report examines the extent to which British marginalised authors and illustrators (Own Voices) contribute to the creation of stories for children aged 1 to 9 featuring marginalised main characters. It tracks year-on-year changes across baby and toddler books, picture books and children’s fiction for 5 to 9s published in 2025.

Building on our 2025 Excluded Voices report, which investigated Own Voice output from 2022 to 2024, this latest edition shines a light on recent trends in UK children’s publishing and how representation is changing.

The findings are contextualised with industry data from NielsenIQ BookData, providing a broader picture of representation.

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Discover the latest stats and insights in Excluded Voices 2026

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Key stats from the report

In 2025...

  • Just 47 books (2.1%) had Black main characters, down 7.8% on the previous year, despite around 8.5% of 1- to 9-year-olds being of Black heritage
  • South Asian main characters featured in just 30 books (1.4%), down 14.3%, despite children of South Asian heritage making up around 12.4% of the 1 to 9 age group
  • Only 3 books (0.1%) had main characters of Middle East and North African heritage, down 50% year on year, against an under 10s population of around 2.2%
  • Picture books centring disabled characters decreased by 60% in 2025 to just 2 books, and neither title was by a disabled creator
  • The increase in neurodivergent representation in picture books was sustained yet modest, from 3 to 13 books, with fewer than half being by neurodivergent authors and illustrators

Cover and interior illustrations © Nila Aye, 2022

Illustrations from People Need People by Benjamin Zephaniah and Nila Aye. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.