We founded Inclusive Books for Children in 2022, when we, book-loving parents to two, very young, mixed-heritage kids, realised how difficult it was to source books we felt comfortable reading as a family, for the lack of diverse racial representation and abundance of gender stereotyping. We’ve created the guide we wished we had then, and we hope you love it, and ultimately, that you love these fantastic books!

Marcus and Sarah

Fabia Turner is Head of Content at IBC and the founder of the Jericho Prize for Children’s Writing. She is also a former primary teacher and educational book editor with a love of children’s literature. In 2018, she became a member of the Critics of Colour Collective, writing theatre reviews for their online platform. Soon after she created Candid Cocoa, a popular arts review blog now focused on recommending quality Black children’s books to teachers and parents. In 2022, she was selected as Head Judge for Changing Narratives’ book reviewing competition, an initiative for East Sussex school children run in conjunction with Brighton and Hove libraries.

Jake Hope is a reading development and children’s book consultant with a keen interest in librarianship, visual literacy, diversity and reading for pleasure. Named as one of ten ‘top librarians of the future’ in the UK’s ‘Love Libraries’ campaign, he has been a regular reviewer and commentator on children’s books for numerous publications and websites. Jake judged the Diverse Voices Book Awards and chaired the promotion to identify ‘50 of the Best Culturally Diverse Children’s Books’. Jake wrote the School Library Association Guidelines title on diversity and representation Voice and Vision and is an adviser and writer for CILIP’s (the Library and Information Association) magazine, Pen&inc. 

Sophie Hostick-Boakye manages the IBC Awards process from submissions to ceremony. She also oversees the IBC Book Box gifting scheme. She has extensive experience in community engagement and social innovation to address social inequalities, and in working with educational establishments and organisations to address issues around marginalisation and inequality. 

Sophie is an avid reader, both by herself and with her two sons, working hard to ensure they all read inclusive books while encouraging her sons to review the inclusive books they read. She has also regularly supported her sons’ school to improve their selection of books for EYFS and KS1. 

Kristel Buckley (she/her) is a freelance social media expert and editor. She has worked in publishing for five years, in children’s fiction for the past two, but has championed inclusive and diverse fiction for her entire career. She has a background in education, and knows how fiction and the power of imagination can change a child’s life. She’ll also talk your ear off about how the best stories can be found in the overlooked figures of history!

With a background in illustration, Jayna has worked between children’s publishing, bookselling and social media content creation for four years. She loves illustrated fiction and is passionate about championing inclusive books she would have loved as a child. You can also find her as a picture book illustrator and children’s bookseller!

Sinéad Gosai (she/her) is Publicity Director for IBC and a freelance publicity consultant with close to 20 years’ experience working in the media, not-for-profit and publishing industries. She has developed press strategies for international authors and bestsellers, created publicity campaigns for beloved children’s book creators, and managed busy press offices and teams across multiple organisations. She is of mixed heritage and is passionate about getting a wider range of stories told and expanding people’s reading lists.

Moses Aziz (she/they/he) is a 2024 Edinburgh Napier MSc Publishing graduate, who is fascinated by the role of distinct sectors across the wider book industry. Moses’s proficiency in judicious research has been honed through his time in academia along with his experience as a shadow panel judge for The Saltire Society National Book Awards 2023 and as an intern at Saqi Books (2024). Because the invitation to ‘read’ is a core message of Moses’s religion, Islam, he believes that everyone deserves access to resonating books especially in the formative years of childhood.