The late Roald Dahl is in the news after the publisher of some of his most famous works, Puffin, decided to edit some of his children’s books, rewriting and removing language they consider could be offensive to a modern audience.
According to the Independent Puffin said the rewriting has been done to ensure that the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”.
Cue the usual claims of “cancel culture” and “wokeness” gone mad. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticised the move by the publishers as “airbrushing” the past, author Salmon Rushdie has called it ‘absurd censorship’, and supposedly, even the Queen, Camilla has weighed in with a veiled reference telling authors to ‘remain true to calling’.
The fact is British children’s literature has a serious problem and it is not Roald Dahl. It is the lack of British Black and Asian creatives writing children’s literature being published.
In November 2 important statistics came out within just days of each other:
The first is that according to the latest census figures people of colour now make up over 18 percent of the population of England and Wales, the percentage is even larger for younger people..
The second was a statistic published by the Book Trust that British authors of colour make up just 3.6 percent of published children’s authors. The even more depressing news is that this is considered progress, in 2017 they made up just 1.7 percent.
According to the same report British writers of colour are also disproportionately self-published compared to their white counterparts.
In another report published in 2018 only seven percent of children’s books published that year featured black, Asian or minority ethnic characters.
The aim of children’s literature should be to inspire young minds, broaden their worlds and instill in them a love of reading, which hopefully they will be able to carry with them for the rest of their lives.
The aim of children’s literature should not be as non-offensive as possible in order to sell as many copies as possible - although I understand that might be the aim of most publishers.
While the debate rages around whether Roald Dahl is being ‘censored’ and the latest victim of the “woke culture war”, the real victims are being ignored.
How do we improve a love of reading in young Black and Asian children?
How do we create a world where children of all races are learning about, and identifying with, Black and Asian protagonists?
If children think that only boys go on adventures and slay dragons something is wrong.
If young formative minds think only white children can go on magic adventures and travel in giant peaches then something is wrong.
Let the politicians and pundits win their silly culture war arguments, over what is really an attempt by a publisher to future proof future sales, making edits that most parents and children probably won't even notice.
But as a parent I want to focus on what is really important – how to instill a love of reading for my black boy and part of that is having authors and characters of colour.
One group that is trying to address the systemic racial disparities in children’s literature is the Black Writers Guild. Formed in 2020, in the wake of the death of George Floyd the organisation has over 200 members including award winning authors such as Bernadine Everisto, Diana Evans and Kit de Waal.
They lobby publishers to increase not only the number of Black writers, but also the terms and conditions of their contracts.
If we really care about children’s literature - let’s worry a little less about Roald Dahl and support the Guild a little more.
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