Update: award for radical children's fiction
Key
things are:
1)
submissions are now open for the 2019 prize!
2)
we have a new judge
3)
the previous winner, Zanib Mian, has gone on to secure a 3-book deal and a Carnegie nomination!
Submissions for the 2019 Little Rebels Award are now open.
The Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s books for
readers age 0-12 which promote social equality and social justice. The prize is
administered by booksellers Letterbox Library and Housmans Bookshop on behalf
of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers. Publishers are invited to submit
relevant books first published in 2018. Full submission guidelines can be found
at www.littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com.
The closing date for
nominations is January 30th 2019.
The shortlist will be
announced in April 2019 with the wining announcement in early July.
The
2019 judges are: award-winning YA author, Patrice Lawrence; B.J.Epstein,
Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia; Darren Chetty, Teaching
Fellow at University College London; Emily Drabble, Head of Children’s Book
Promotions/Prizes at BookTrust. This year, the judges will be joined by Shaun
Dellenty, Former Deputy Head, trainer in LGBT+ inclusive education and author
of Celebrating Difference: A whole-school approach to LGBT+ inclusion (forthcoming: Bloomsbury May 2019).
Shaun Dellenty said, “I am looking forward to being a Little
Rebels judge! Ten years of work in LGBT+ inclusion in education has proved the
urgent need for a wide range of representative and inclusive children’s fiction
that promotes social justice, equality and compassion for human diversity. We
must nurture schools in which young people can bring curiosity to their own
responses and reactions to diversity; high-quality texts are a vital stimulus
for these potentially life changing conversations.”
Winner of Radical Children’s Fiction Prize Clinches
Book Deal and Carnegie Nomination
The winner of the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’sFiction 2018 has been nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal. Zanib Mian’s The
Muslims was published by her own indie publishing company, Sweet Apple
Books, in October 2017. Since winning the Little Rebels Award, Zanib Mian has
gone on to secure a three-book-deal with Hachette Children’s Group.
Speaking about the success of The
Muslims, Zanib Mian said, “Winning the Little Rebels Award catapulted me to
places I never dreamt of getting to, in my career! Thanks to the spotlight the
award brought - and of course, the support from the amazing panel of judges and
the organisers - my book found its way into the hands of people who may not
have otherwise discovered it, which led to me signing an agent, securing a
3-book deal with Hachette Children’s Group, being shortlisted for the UKLA
awards and nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal!”
Press Release Contact:
Fen Coles
info@letterboxlibrary.com
Letterbox Library
Unit 151 Stratford Workshops
Burford Road
Stratford E15 2SP
Tel: 020 8534 7502
Further Information
About the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award
The Little Rebels Award is given by the ARB and was
established in conjunction with Letterbox Library. Full details of the award,
including the shortlist and prize giving ceremony for previous years, can be
found at: www.littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com.
About Letterbox Library
Letterbox Library is a 34-year-old, not-for-profit,
children’s booksellers and social enterprise. They specialise in children’s
books which celebrate diversity, equality & inclusion as well as books
which promote social justice. www.letterboxlibrary.com.
About Housmans Bookshop
Housmans Bookshop is one of London’s longest surviving and
last remaining radical bookshops. Housmans is a founder member of the ARB. They
were awarded the London Independent Bookshop of the Year Award in 2016. www.housmans.com.
About the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB)
The ARB is a supportive community for the UK’s radical
booksellers; www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk. The ARB also runs the (adult)
Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing. www.bread-and-roses.co.uk.
