Inclusive Books for Children publishes new Excluded Voices report
Charity Inclusive Books for Children has published its second annual Excluded Voices report analysing Own Voice 
and main-character representation of marginalised groups in UK children’s books for readers aged 1 to 9. The 2025 report concentrates on recent publishing trends from 2022 to 2024 and IBC examined children’s books published traditionally in the period in the UK in three categories: Baby and Toddler Books (ages 1–3), Picture Books (ages 3–7) and Children’s Fiction (ages 5–9), a total of 2,721 books (using statistics provided by NielsenIQ BookData).
The report found significant gaps in meaningful representation:
- Only 5.9% of books featured marginalised main characters, and just 49% of those were created by authors or illustrators from those groups
- Just 1.3% of book main characters were of South Asian heritage, compared with around 12.5% of pupils in England’s nursery and primary schools
- East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) representation was also lacking, with only 0.8% of books featuring ESEA protagonists, despite approximately 2.6% of young pupils being of ESEA heritage
- Books with Black main characters fell by 21.5% compared with 2023
- Only seven books featured disabled main characters (most were created by non-disabled authors or illustrators), and six featured neurodivergent main characters
- Just 2.8% of books for babies and toddlers featured marginalised main characters
Fiction for children aged 3 years and up, as well as broader subgenres for toddlers aged 1 to 3, was examined for the report. Analysis involved identifying books with main characters from marginalised groups by ethnicity, neurodivergence or disability, and whether these books were ‘Own Voice’, i.e. created by authors or illustrators who share the main characters’ marginalised identities.
Marcus Satha, co-founder of Inclusive Books for Children, said, ‘Far-right agitators are threatening the peace and security of people from minoritised ethnicities. This underlines how essential it is that creatives with marginalised identities be brought into the fold of children’s publishing. The report highlights the huge missed opportunity to show children, through high-quality, authentic storytelling, that everybody belongs and everybody adds value to society.’
The report includes comment from The Black Nursery Manager, Liz Pemberton, Jasmine Richards, author and founder of Storymix, and IBC reviewer and Own Voice author, Jen Campbell, highlighting the urgent need for increased representation.
Publishers Walker Books (Trustbridge Global Media), Little Tiger and Orchard Books (Hachette Children’s Group) are praised for ‘doing much of the heavy lifting’ in this area along with independents Alanna Max, Barefoot Books, Five Quills, Knights Of, Lantana, Tate, and Thames & Hudson while the report also highlights the work of grassroots awards for marginalised creators, such as the Jhalak Prize, Diverse Book Awards and Adrien Prize plus creative writing organisations and literacy charities, including the Jericho Prize, All Stories, Megaphone and Storymix. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, BookTrust and National Literacy Trust are credited for their work in this area.
The 2025 IBC Excluded Voices report is available to download here. CLPE’s new Reflecting Realities report will be published in November 2025.
