LOGOS Combinations to Reflect All Nations Economic and symbolic capital in diverse children’s fiction Megan Dennis Meggie is the Editorial Assistant at David Fickling Books, where she has worked with authors such as award-winning Jenny Downham and Lisa Williamson and been in- volved in the launch of Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth. She completed the MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University in 2019; her dissertation (sponsored by the Penguin Collectors’ Society) focused on Kaye Webb’s legacy at Puffin encouraging children to read for pleasure. Meggie graduated with First Class Honours in English from the University of Exeter, where her dissertation compared Paradise Lost and the Harry Potter series. [email protected] As Children’s Laureate 2013–2015, Malorie as motivation for creating art is reductive. Blackman raised awareness of the lack of Story telling is about combining voices and racial diversity in children’s fiction. Under- experiences, and publishers can, and should, representation of ethnic minorities in fiction combine economic and symbolic motivations and the publishing industry’s infrastructure is in publishing diverse fiction for children. a severe problem in the world of children’s Publishing a book because it will be suc- books, as illuminated by research into the cessful economically and because it is the publishing environment of the past 15 years, right thing to do are not mutually exclusive; and the books populating current bestseller in publishing diverse children’s fiction, both charts. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of eco- motives can and should inspire us. nomic and symbolic capital is important to understanding how diversity is highlighted Keywords: Children’s Laureate, children’s in the contemporary literary field, but his fiction, diversity, symbolic capital, polarization of the different form of capital economic capital, paratext LOGOS 30/3 © 2019 LOGOS DOI:10.1163/18784712-03003002 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. 33 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 06:53:53PM via free access <UN> Megan Dennis Combinations to Reflect All Nations Introduction literature’ (Walker, 2019). However, despite having sup- ‘There were always too many people ready to set my lim- posedly perfect ambassadors, who have often tried to its for me,’ said author Malorie Blackman, OBE, speak- improve the diversity situation, British children are still ing of her childhood (Coats, 2014, p. 6). Feeling confined inaccurately represented in fiction. In July 2018, the Cen- to predetermined paths based on her ethnicity, she was tre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) published told when considering jobs that ‘black people become a report analysing ethnic representation in children’s secretaries’ (Peacock, 2014). Blackman broke through literature. It statistically confirmed the existence of a these limits, becoming a bestselling children’s author monoculture in children’s publishing, often anecdotally and pushing past further constraints from adults who acknowledged by writers, including Blackman (‘white told her, when she started her career, that white children adults sometimes think that if a black child’s on the would not want to read about black characters. However, [book] cover it is perhaps not for [their children]’ [Ward, Blackman’s books exist in a realm of children’s fiction 2013]). The report showed that only four per cent of chil- where there are still limits upon the kinds of books that dren’s books published in 2017 included black, Asian, are published and the different types of capital perceived or other ethnic minority (BAME) characters, and only to be invested in them. Storytelling’s power comes from one per cent featured a BAME protagonist, despite 32 pushing limits and moving beyond what we believe to be per cent of pupils of compulsory school age in England true or possible, while simultaneously teaching us about at that time having minority ethnic origins (CLPE, 2018, ourselves and the world we do live in. This duality of fan- 5). Publishers need to take note of voices such as Black- tasy and fact is especially important in children’s fiction, man’s and this shocking statistical evidence and ensure which shapes the way young people see the world and that books published today are not limiting and instead themselves. Blackman’s life shows how breaking limits value multiplicity: that they tell stories of children from is rewarding; similarly, to expand the limits on children’s a range of cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Not only fiction to make it more representative, and to develop would this enable more children to see themselves re- and combine the kind of capitals invested in diverse flected in literature, which has essential moral value, children’s books, is also morally, economically, and sym- but, from a more purely economic perspective, by pub- bolically rewarding. lishing books that only a limited market can relate to, One way Blackman broke free from ‘challenges and publishers are missing out on vast potential audiences opposition from some editors, booksellers and librari- and therefore revenue. Publishers must combine stories ans’ (Coats, 2014, p. 7), reluctant to support her books be- from a global range of cultures in order to break free cause of their focus on ethnicity, was when she took on from a limiting canon of white-centred fiction. ‘the most inspiring post in children’s literature’ (Blake, 2019). As Children’s Laureate from 2013 to 2015, Black- Forms of capital and the importance of publishers man focused during her tenure on emphasizing the combining them importance of diversity. She described as a child ‘“never Stories consist of combinations of voices, characters, once read[ing] a book that featured a black child [de- and experiences; the market of child readers combines spite being a prolific reader]”, which left her feeling “to- children from different backgrounds; and in order for tally invisible”’ (Ward, 2013). To combat this as Children’s ‘reading and reflection [to] multiply [readers’] experi- Laureate, Blackman established the annual Young Adult ence’ (Gibbon quoted in McMaster, 2013, p. 45) publish- (YA) Literature Convention, edited an inclusive YA an- ers need to invest a combination of forms of capital in thology of short stories covering disability and LGBTQ+ diverse children’s fiction (children who are currently themes, supported libraries, and was consistently vocal well represented in fiction need to read and learn about about racial representation, to try to make it easier for underrepresented categories of people, too). Economic marginalized children to access representative fiction. capital (financial value a book can accumulate) and sym- Laureates are traditionally revered and praised; Chil- bolic capital (cultural prestige and reputation) underpin dren’s Laureates are similarly respected in the literary publishing activity; Pierre Bourdieu argues that ‘the field, deemed ‘the perfect ambassadors for children’s structure of the publishing field is shaped above all by 34 LOGOS 30/3 © 2019 LOGOS Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 06:53:53PM via free access 204206 Megan Dennis Combinations to Reflect All Nations the differential distribution’ (1996, p. 9, emphasis mine) themselves in fiction—and will also bring in profit for of these forms of capital. He consistently contrasts the KO. There are indeed ‘practices and motivations too var- two forms of capital as inspiration for cultural produc- ied to be accommodated by a rigid, dualist division be- tion, arguing that art is produced either for economic tween art for the sake of art and art for the sake of money’­ gain or simply for art’s sake—and that ‘it is these forms (Zimbler, 2009, p. 617); KO’s activity demonstrates that of capital that are particularly important in determining Bourdieu’s strict division is not always illuminating. [a publisher’s] competitive position’ (1996, p. 9). The rise A further example of a positive development in di- of conglomerate publishers has seen companies’ com- versity in children’s fiction, and publishers’ ability to petitive positions altered as corporate giants become combine forms of capital, is American author Angie more dramatically contrasted with smaller independent Thomas’s YA novel The Hate U Give (THUG). Published houses. Although there is an apparent polarization be- in Britain by Walker Books in February 2017, THUG cov- tween conglomerates and independent publishers, so ers racist police brutality and the Black Lives Matter that ‘the large corporations become the dominant play- movement. Its culturally powerful content and phenom- ers’ (Thompson, 2010, p. 187), when it comes to diversity enally successful sales demonstrate significant symbolic in fiction smaller houses are beginning to thrive and be- and economic capital. come trailblazers. Thomas was originally ‘far from convinced that she The independent publisher Knights Of (KO) was es- would find a publisher’, for the same sorts of reasons tablished in October 2017. Founded by Aimée Felone and highlighted by Blackman: agents ‘were telling [Thomas] David Stevens (who both previously worked at Scholas- that books with black kids on the cover don’t sell’ (No- tic, so had experience accruing economic and symbolic ble, 2018). However, two years after a 13-way publishers’ capital at a larger publisher), KO is explicit in its focus auction, THUG has sold over 850 000 copies and spent on publishing commercial and inclusive children’s over two years on the New York Times bestseller list books featuring children from ethnic minorities or with (Kantor, 2018)—with a ‘black kid’ on the cover. As well disabilities. Although small, with significantly less eco- as economic capital from book sales (and a successful nomic capital than its conglomerate competitors, KO’s film adaptation), the book’s reception demonstrates its deliberate effort to increase diversity and representation accumulated symbolic prestige: it won the 2018 Char- in children’s fiction has gained them significant symbolic tered Institute of Library and Information Profession- capital.