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J.T. Williams wins 2024 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction

October 16, 2024/in news /by Andrea Reece

Little Rebels Award Winner and judges, photo by Lily Slaymaker

J.T. Williams is the winner of the 2024 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction for Portraits and Poison, the second book in her Lizzie & Belle junior detective series. The first in the series, Drama and Danger, was longlisted for the Little Rebels Award in 2023. Set against a backdrop of real-life British Black History, Portraits and Poison explores a history of Black British activism, introducing young readers to real life, Georgian-London, campaigners such as the Sons (& Daughters) of Africa. The novel also exposes the racist mechanisms at work in the conventions of Western portraiture.

Little Rebels Award Judge, Farrah Serroukh, described Portraits and Poison as, ‘A fantastic means of countering erasure across all spheres including artistic, fictional, historical and political; challenging misrepresentations whilst encased in a brilliantly crafted, engaging and accessible story.’ The organisers of the Little Rebels Award said, ‘We love how Portraits and Poison, with its themes of civil disobedience and rebellion, channels the spirit, energy and optimism of the Little Rebels Award.’

J.T. Williams was awarded £2k prize money, funded by the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust, plus £250 through the Gill Lewis Award, a sum which will be donated by the winner to a charity of their choice, and a limited edition print by Ken Wilson Max, commissioned by and exclusive to the award.

The announcement was made at the Little Rebels Award Ceremony, held at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, on Wednesday October 16th. It followed a panel discussion on centring radical fiction for children, chaired by Dr. Darren Chetty and attended by 2024 shortlistees, Yaba Badoe; Jen Reid; Kate Rafiq; Harry Woodgate; JT Williams; James Catchpole & Karen George; Helen Rutter & Elisa Paganelli.

This is the 12th year of the Little Rebels Award. Given on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB), the award is administered by ARB members, Housmans Bookshop and Letterbox Library, it recognises children’s books which explore political ideas, challenge the status quo, or promote social justice, social equality and a more peaceful and fairer world.  In 2023 the award was won by Patrice Lawrence for Needle (Barrington Stoke).

This year’s judges were author-illustrator (and former award shortlistee), Emily Haworth-Booth; reading development and children’s book consultant, Jake Hope; Research and Development Director at the Centre for Literature in Primary Education (CLPE), Farrah Serroukh; teacher and author, Alom Shaha; illustrator, designer & lecturer, Soofiya.

The other shortlisted books were:

Man-Man and The Tree Of Memories by Yaba Badoe and Joelle Avelino (Head of Zeus Books)

A Hero Like Me by Angela Joy, Jen Reid and Leire Salaberria (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)

We Are Here by Kate Rafiq (Dune Books)

Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate (Andersen Press)

Is That Your Mama? By Patrice Lawrence and Diane Ewen (Scholastic)

You’re So Amazing! by James & Lucy Catchpole and Karen George (Faber & Faber)

The Piano At The Station by Helen Rutter with illustrations by Elisa Paganelli (Barrington Stoke)

https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Lizzie-and-Belle.jpg 921 600 Andrea Reece http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Andrea Reece2024-10-16 21:00:102024-10-17 08:15:11J.T. Williams wins 2024 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction

Little Rebels Award Shortlist 2024

July 18, 2024/in news /by Andrea Reece

The shortlist for this year’s Little Rebels Award has been announced. There are eight books on the list, books that ‘speak to a generation of young activists and critical thinkers’ say the organisers, and they cover a wide range of social justice issues from Black History to Black Lives Matter, from access to the arts to the politics of Pride.

The shortlist includes Yaba Badoe’s middle grade debut and a debut for Jen Reid, the Bristol BLM activist famous for standing on Edward Coulson’s empty plinth in June 2020, fist raised. There’s also a listing for the 4-year-old, micro, Birmingham-based, publisher, Dune Books (est. 2020).

The shortlist in full is:

Man-Man and the Tree of Memories by Yaba Badoe and Joelle Avelino (Head of Zeus Books)

A Hero Like Me by Angela Joy, Jen Reid and Leire Salaberria (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)

The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries: Portraits And Poison by J. T. Williams with illustrations by Simone Douglas (Farshore)

We Are Here by Kate Rafiq (Dune Books)

Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate (Andersen Press)

Is That Your Mama? By Patrice Lawrence and Diane Ewen (Scholastic)

You’re So Amazing! by James & Lucy Catchpole and Karen George (Faber & Faber)

The Piano at the Station by Helen Rutter with illustrations by Elisa Paganelli (Barrington Stoke)

This year’s judges include two new additions: teacher and author, Alom Shaha and designer and illustrator, Soofiya. They join author-illustrator Emily Haworth-Booth, reading development and children’s book consultant, Jake Hope and Regional Learning Programmes Leader at the CLPE (Centre for Literature in Primary Education), Farrah Serroukh.

Darren Chetty, lecturer at UCL and columnist for Books for Keeps is a new member of the panel. He said, ‘Radical, rebellious fiction has found itself under attack from conservative forces in recent years. We’ve seen authors’ books removed from shelves in the USA as the culture warriors have tried to limit the imaginations of writers and readers. The Little Rebels Award matters more than ever- and I’m proud to be associated with it.’

In 2024, the highest number of publishers, a total of 52, submitted to the award. The award organisers published a longlist for only the second time in May, showcasing 17 of the best radical children’s fiction titles of 2023.

The Little Rebels Award Winner for 2024 will be announced at a ceremony in October. The winner’s prize includes £2,000 funded by the Marxist Socialist funder, The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. Free downloadable reading guides for each of the shortlisted titles will shortly be available through the Little Rebels Award website, enabling educators and carers to discuss and plan activities around the social justice topics raised in the shortlist.

The Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction Award is run by Letterbox Library, and Housmans Bookshop on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers.

https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/web-Shortlist-Poster-PRINT.jpg 848 600 Andrea Reece http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Andrea Reece2024-07-18 09:00:252024-07-18 08:49:54Little Rebels Award Shortlist 2024

Patrice Lawrence wins the 2023 Little Rebels Award

July 19, 2023/in news /by Andrea Reece

Patrice Lawrence with Sarah Hagger Holt. Photo by Lily Slaymaker.

Patrice Lawrence is the winner of the 2023 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction for her book Needle, published by Barrington Stoke.

Needle tells the story of Charlene Yewless, a young, looked after, teenager who gets caught up in the criminal justice system through a single, grief-driven, act. Charlene’s journey spotlights a range of urgent social justice issues including the treatment of young people by the UK’s welfare and legal institutions and the ‘adultification’ of Black girls.

Little Rebels Award Judge, Jake Hope, described Needle as ‘A masterpiece of control. The prose feels very tactile and sensory. And, it’s very timely in terms of ageing up and Child Q.’ His fellow judge Farrah Serroukh of CLPE said that Needle offers ‘a really important representation of a child in care and the complex challenges of being part of the British care system.’ She praises Patrice Lawrence’s ‘exceptional skill in conveying the vulnerability of the main character and nuances of her character and the wider cast, resulting in a heart breaking insight into the ways in which children in care are often so poorly let down’.

Patrice Lawrence receives £2k prize money plus £250 through the new, annual, Gill Lewis Award, a sum which was matched this year by the 2022 Little Rebels Award Winner, Sarah Hagger-Holt. The £500 additional money will be donated by Lawrence to a charity of her choice (which is also in keeping with the ethos of the award.)

The winner announcement was made at the Little Rebels Award Ceremony, held at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. It followed a panel discussion on creating political fiction and distilling ‘big ideas’  for children, chaired by Jake Hope, attended by most of this year’s shortlistees including Annemarie Anang, Lisette Auton, Az Dassu, Elys Dolan, Natelle Quek, Varsha Shah- and Patrice Lawrence.

This is the 11th year of the Little Rebels Award. The award celebrates radical fiction for children aged 0-12. Given on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers, the award is administered by radical children’s online bookseller, Letterbox Library and radical bookshop, Housmans. It recognises children’s books which explore political ideas, challenge the status quo, or promote social justice, social equality and a more peaceful and fairer world.

Catherine Barter, Fen Coles, Patrice Lawrence and Kerry Mason. Photo by Lily Slaymaker.

The 2023 Little Rebels Award Judges were: Gay’s the Word bookshop manager, Jim MacSweeney; author-illustrator (and former award shortlistee), Emily Haworth-Booth; reading development and children’s book consultant, Jake Hope; Research and Development Director at the Centre for Literature in Primary Education (CLPE), Farrah Serroukh.

The shortlist in full:

Ajay and the Mumbai Sun by Varsha Shah (Chicken House Books)

Fight Back by A. M. Dassu (Scholastic)

I Am Nefertiti by Annemarie Anang and Natelle Quek (Five Quills)

Mayor Bunny’s Chocolate Town by Elys Dolan (Oxford University Press)

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton (Puffin Books)

You Need to Chill! by Juno Dawson and Laura Hughes (Farshore)

https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/web-Patrice-Lawrence_4-180x120-1.jpg 120 180 Andrea Reece http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Andrea Reece2023-07-19 20:45:592023-07-20 08:43:06Patrice Lawrence wins the 2023 Little Rebels Award

2021 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction winner announced

September 8, 2021/in news /by Andrea Reece

Boy Everywhere by A.M. Dassu is the winner of the £2k prize for the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2021.

The Little Rebels Award, now in its ninth year, celebrates radical fiction for children aged 0-12. Given on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers, the award is administered by radical children’s bookseller Letterbox Library and the independent, radical bookshop Housmans. The award recognises children’s books which explore extant political concerns, challenge the status quo, and promote social justice and equality.

Boy Everywhere chronicles the devastating journey taken by Sami and his family from Syria to the UK, exposing the unyielding, cruel, and often dehumanising obstacles refugees face in their flight to sanctuary. Reviewers of the book have recognised the meticulous research undertaken by A.M. Dassu to authentically represent the strife of refugees in this journey with empathy and humanity. Letterbox Library’s online review of the book states that, ‘Publishers submit a number of refugee narratives to Letterbox Library every year but very few manage to communicate the pain and lived trauma of the people making those journeys while also according refugees full humanity, dignity, and agency’. This strength of the novel was also remarked upon by the Little Rebels Award judges, with Shaun Dellenty describing it as a ‘detailed and well researched book on a highly contemporary topic’ and with Darren Chetty saying, ‘It reminds us that imagination is so often grounded in knowledge and in knowing the areas you’re exploring. This book is a book that can actually impact on what comes next in children’s publishing.’

A.M. Dassu was presented with the award by the most recent recipient of the Jhalak Prize, Patrice Lawrence, during a virtual ceremony attended by representatives from all nine shortlisted titles. The panel of guest judges for the 2021 competition consisted of writers and educators Darren Chetty and Shaun Dellenty, the head of children’s book promotion at Booktrust, Emily Drabble, award winning author Patrice Lawrence and Gay’s the Word bookshop manager Jim MacSweeney. In 2020 the award was won by Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearing for their picture book, The Boy Who Loved Everyone.

Speaking about the winning title, the Little Rebels Award judge Emily Drabble referred to the novel’s outstanding ability to shed, ‘a light on injustice and unfairness in our society and…encourage radical thoughts and actions of the next generation to hopefully affect some change’. Judge Darren Chetty also emphasised the novel’s political power and remarked upon the astonishing tenderness and beauty A.M. Dassu writes with, saying, ‘Boy Everywhere is everything that I look for in a Little Rebels book- it’s politically interesting, it’s timely, but first and foremost it’s beautifully written. Often with political books we forget that aspect…that the writing itself needs to sing and it really does in this book’.

The other shortlisted books were:

Agent Asha: Mission Shark Bytes by Sophie Deen, illustrated by Anjan Sarkar (Walker Books)

Brand New Boy by David Almond, illustrated by Marta Altés (Walker Books)

Fearless Fairy Tales by Konnie Huq & James Kay, illustrated by Rikin Parekh (Bonnier)

The Goody by Lauren Child (Orchard Books)

Hope Jones Saves the World by Josh Lacey, illustrated by Beatriz Castro (Andersen Press)

It Isn’t Rude to be Nude by Rosie Haine (Tate Publishing)

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll (Knights Of)

The Soup Movement by Ben Davis (OUP)

Full details of the award, including the shortlist and prize giving ceremony for previous years, can be found online.

http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Andrea Reece http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Andrea Reece2021-09-08 20:37:092021-09-08 20:37:092021 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction winner announced

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