Pupils at a Derby secondary school will have the chance to get their noses in more books after Penguin Books picked them to receive a “Lit in Colour” award.
The donation saw the school receive 100 books written by Black, Asian and minority ethnic authors plus 30 copies of Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera.
Photo shows: School pupils (left to right) Faraz, Javeaira, Nida, Godswill, Margita and Martina
Meghan McCabe, an English teacher at the school who applied for Lit in Colour, said the school very much appreciated being chosen by Penguin Books.
She said: “Our school is so diverse and when I saw the opportunity to win books that could represent the children that we have here, I thought it would be a nice opportunity.”
Lit in Colour was launched in 2020 by Penguin Random House UK and the racial equality think tank The Runnymede Trust. Research commissioned by the trust showed that while a third of school students in England are not white British, fewer than one per cent of English Literature GCSE candidates in 2019 had answered a question on a novel by an author of colour. In addition, no more than seven per cent of candidates for GCSE English Literature in 2019 answered on a full-length novel or play by a woman.
The Bemrose School is planning to use the acquisition of the books as part of its new “Reading for Pleasure” programme for key stage three English. The idea of the programme is to use the new donation to provide texts for additional reading in the classroom, to provide a broader range of literary voices from a range of backgrounds.
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The new titles include Becoming by Michelle Obama; A Promised Land by Barack Obama; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, and Naturally Tan: a Memoir, by Tan France – fashion expert on Netflix show Queer Eye.
Meghan said: “It’s giving more opportunities for children to see themselves in literature, in our school in particular, as we have such a multi-cultural school.”
Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin Random House UK, said: “Books create belonging. They help us see each other and understand one another. Yet our research has revealed that barely any young people have the chance to study books which reflect the rich diversity of the society we live in.
“Changing this is a complex and multi-layered challenge, requiring collaborative action from many different groups across the education sector – from teachers, to publishers, to examining bodies. We hope this is where Lit in Colour can play a key part: by bringing together the expertise, resources and platforms of partners to tackle these issues together.”
