When Lynsey Pollard became a mother ten years ago, she realised it wasn’t just single mothers who were lacking representation in children’s books – the issue extended to race, disability, family set-ups, gender, culture, class and basically anything that fell...
Social worker by day, writer by night, Luna McNamara is the author of Psyche and Eros, a feminist retelling of the Greek myth of the same name. The book was subject to a four-way bidding war for publishing rights in the U.S., and has received translation deals in 11...
Last weekend, BLOT Magazine attended Sheaf Poetry Festival in Sheffield. It celebrates the best in UK poetry, spoken word and lyrics, taking place in venues across Sheffield and the Peak District, and online. This year, the festival themes were activism, brains and...
When you think of classic books, are you transported back to your English literature classroom; staring out the window whilst your teacher bored you with Shakespeare? I can admit too, when I first started reading classic literature, I could not get my head around...
Historically, the publishing industry has been predominantly middle class and white. In 2023, the publishing industry is still predominantly middle class and white. Publishing is the least socially diverse of all the UK’s creative industries. 47% of all authors,...
From reasons ranging from vulgarity to LGBTQ+ overtones, the books on this list have, at some point in time, been purged from the shelves of schools, libraries and shops. In fact, in America, these books are still being challenged today, with a flurry of book bans...
