In 2024, Lantana celebrated ten years of publishing award-winning, inclusive books for children.  A decade earlier, Alice Curry had founded our company with a mission to see all children reflected in the books they read. It was an ambitious mission, particularly for someone who had never worked in publishing! But Alice had witnessed firsthand the lack of inclusive books when she was attempting to find books for her diverse cohort of BA and MA university students to study during her years in academia. The lack of available books was brought closer to home still when her sister married a man whose parents had emigrated from Hong Kong and whose mixed-race children – Alice’s nephews and nieces – faced growing up without being able to see themselves reflected in the books they read.

Back in 2014, the conversation around diversity in children’s books was very different to the conversation we’re having today, and our small but growing team were forced to spend quite a lot of our early years explaining to book buyers and booksellers why we were seeking out books by authors specifically from under-represented groups. This was before two key events in publishing history changed the industry outlook on this subject forever. The first was the publication of CLPE’s groundbreaking report ‘Reflecting Realities’ which analysed the children’s books published in 2017 and found that only 1% of them featured a main character of colour. This landmark study shocked the industry and gave us our first set of statistics to draw on to justify our commitment to inclusion.

The second was the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests that sprung up with furious energy in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Our experiences that year were bittersweet – our books were in demand more than ever. Both the CLPE report and the BLM protests galvanised the industry into scrutinising their lists, analysing the makeup of their workforce, and acknowledging the clear gaps in their publishing programmes, leading to much welcome change over the years. However, we’re justifiably proud that our unwavering commitment to publishing inclusive books had been established long before these landmark moments and was already helping lay the groundwork for a more equal book landscape for children for generations to come.

One of the ways in which we’re proud to have made a small but significant difference is in launching several debut authors and illustrators over the years. A wonderful example is illustrator Poonam Mistry whose first picture book, You’re Safe With Me, went on to be shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, now Carnegie Medal, propelling her onto the international stage – and we were surprised and delighted when her second book, You’re Snug With Me, was shortlisted for the same award. Illustrator Sandhya Prabhat found similar acclaim when we published her first picture book in the UK, I Am Brown, and has since gone on to secure a UK agent and publish with some of the largest publishing houses in the world. While we sometimes have to bid a fond farewell to the authors and illustrators who outgrow us (although they never stop championing us!), we’re proud of the role we play in the publishing ecosystem which sees us break out new voices and take the kinds of risks larger publishing houses are often unwilling to take.

Our publishing is fuelled by passion – a passionate belief in the power of representative literature to give children and young people the confidence to become life-long readers for pleasure and to gain a sense of agency and self-worth from seeing themselves reflected in stories. We are passionate about treading as lightly as we can on the planet – we print only on sustainably-sourced paper with plant-based inks, as one of many examples of moves we’ve made over the years to minimise our carbon footprint. We are passionate about the subjects our authors write about – subjects that reflect all the important issues facing our societies today. And we are passionate about our capacity to make a difference to the lives of children who may not have always had the easiest start in life.

With that in mind, we’re excited to publish several new titles this year that reflect some of our core values. A Card for My Mum by Bashabi Fraser and Maanvi Kaapur puts media representation in the spotlight when its young protagonist tries to seek out a Mother’s Day card that features a mum who looks like hers. The Playdate by Uje Brandelius and Clara Dackenberg, translated from Swedish by Nichola Smalley, brings the cost of living crisis to the foreground by exploring social class and economic divides between families – a timely and unusual book in the spirit of Kate Milner’s It’s a No-Money Day. Mama’s Special Wonton Soup by Wai Mei Wong and Xin Yue Xhu takes us back to a simpler time when a young girl in southern China meets a marvellous array of characters on her way to market – gorgeously illustrated in two-tone jewel-like colours that manage to communicate both nostalgia and modernity at the same time. And Soni and the Life Drinkers, the third instalment of Kenyan author Shiko Nguru’s popular Nairobi-set middle grade fantasy adventure series, the Intasimi Warriors, is full of nail-biting action as well as moments that will make your heart melt.

With ten years behind us, we’re excited to look ahead to the future. Just as it was when Alice established our mission a decade ago, we plan to keep on publishing beautiful, meaningful books that reflect the lived experiences of all members of our society and that honour the unique contributions each of us can make to building a better world for all of us. A huge thank you to all of the teachers, librarians, parents and carers who have supported us over the years and who continue to champion us – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Many thanks to the team at Lantana for all beautiful books and for sharing this with us.