Author of Skin Deep and Spike and Ali Enson, Malaika Rose Stanley, contributed a fantastic blog post for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure last week. In Black, White and Just Right Malaika compiles a list of children’s and young adult fiction which feature mixed-race and mixed-heritage main characters. The list includes titles from authors such as Bali Rai, Philip Pullman and Rick Riordan. However, it was not easy to put the list together. As Malaika says, ‘It’s a short list – and not in a good way – but in the end, isn’t quality always more important than quantity?’ We couldn’t agree more Malaika. 

To read the full article, follow this link: http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com/2011/11/black-white-and-just-right-malaika-rose.html

So who are we exactly? As you will know Tamarind was set up by inimitable Verna Wilkins, who has grown this company from scratch, with a love and passion that has our greatest respects. Although retired, Verna still plays a role and is very much part of Tamarind.  A new team was formed to help take Tamarind forward – and we have been working hard to plan our strategy for 2012 and beyond.

Introducing the Tamarind Team…

Heading our team is Philippa Dickinson, the MD of Random House Children’s Team. She has been a tireless advocate for Tamarind (and the one who signs off all our cheques…)

Ruth Knowles and Parul Bavishi work on the Fiction list. Ruth Knowles, a Commissioning Editor at RHCB, has been with the company for five years and works across all age ranges and genres. Parul Bavishi, an Editor at RHCB, joined in 2011. Prior to this she worked at Quercus Publishing for a number of years. She is drawn to fantasy and high imagination, gutsy fiction, and light-hearted capers for 5+.

Together they are looking to publish high quality stories that feature a diverse range of characters. What does this mean? They will be books for all children, with characters that reflect the beautiful diversity of the world and of Britain today. Above all they will be books are picked up through the strength of their storytelling.

Sue Buswell is the Deputy Publisher for picture books with over twenty years of experience in the industry. Joe Marriott is a Picture Book Editor at RHCB. Prior to this he worked at Mantra Lingua, an award-winning multi-cultural publisher. 

Together they are responsible for commissioning new picture books for Tamarind. They are looking for fun, high-quality picture book texts featuring strong central characters from diverse backgrounds. They are also looking for exciting new illustrators.

So that’s us folks! Nice to meet you finally. There’s more to come. Deals to be announced, on here and on the Bookseller very soon…

Have a nice bank holiday weekend!

Click to find out more about Boys Don’t Cry.

Click for more about the book.

Click to watch the trailer.

Class 3O have been studying many books by the author Verna Wilkins, including biographies of Stephen Lawrence and Benjamin Zephaniah, as part of the Literacy Unit Authors and Letters. When they wrote to her to ask her to come and visit, imagine their surprise when she did! Especially as they were to first to hear her read her new book, Abdi’s Day which is not due out until September 2010.  Here are some of the class’ comments about her visit:

Danae: “It was delightful that what I wanted to happen happened on Thursday because Verna Wilkins came when we wrote letters to her.”

Josh: “It was extremely good that our dream to meet Verna Wilkins came true.  She is an extremely nice woman and she told us about how she wrote her books.”

Merrill: “It was amazing to see Verna Wilkins and her telling us her new story, Abdi’s Day.  I asked her if she would ever write her autobiography and she said she would get to work on it when she gets home!”

Amal: “It was so outstanding to meet Verna Wilkins because I really want to be an author when I grow up and she told me everything about how to be a writer.”

After a minute’s silence, Ben enthralled an audience with an intimate reading. The publicity director, managing director and production controller were among those who enjoyed the story and asked Ben questions. Although we can’t repeat the magic of the book read aloud, you can see a video Q & A with Ben below.

Ben signed copies of the book which you can win on Facebook and Twitter next week.

What inspired Ben to write The Silence Seeker

Ben Morley on… Favourite books

Ben Morley on… The Crown Prince of Brunei

Ben Morley on… Being a writer

Ben Morley on… Workshopping the book

Do you remember how old you were when you first saw a black person in a book? Join Patsy, Commissioning Editor at Tamarind Books, for a fun creative writing workshop on writing multicultural stories for children and teens. Patsy will give aspiring children’s writers practical tips for success and discuss the importance of representing black children in literature. Bring your notebook and pen!

Click to read Tamarind’s manuscript submission guidelines.

Click to find out more about the inspiring story of The Grace School and the work of Pelican Post.