Decline in Black Representation in UK Children’s Books Sparks Concerns Over Industry Rollback
A new report reveals a troubling trend in UK children’s publishing: the number of children’s books featuring a Black main character dropped by more than 20% between 2023 and 2024. The findings, released by the literacy charity Inclusive Books for Children (IBC), underscore growing anxieties about diversity and inclusion within the industry, particularly following commitments made after the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
The IBC report, which surveyed 2,721 books published last year for readers aged one to nine, found that only 51 – representing just 1.9% of the total – featured a Black main character. This marks a significant decrease of 21.5% compared to the previous year. The charity has described this shift as a “catastrophic decline in Black representation” and a clear indication of “stark inequalities” persisting within UK children’s publishing.
Beyond Black representation, the report paints a broader picture of underrepresentation across multiple identity groups. Approximately 6% of children’s books feature marginalised main characters, with less than half (49%) of those stories being created by authors or illustrators who share those lived experiences. The data reveals that only 35 books (1.3%) featured South Asian main characters, despite roughly 12.5% of children in English nursery and primary schools identifying as South Asian. Representation for disabled and neurodivergent characters was even lower, with just seven and six books respectively, and a disproportionate number of these authored by individuals without those lived experiences.
Industry insiders have voiced concerns that the initial momentum generated by the Black Lives Matter movement has stalled. Several leading Black literary figures shared with The Guardian earlier this year that the UK publishing landscape is now less accessible to Black authors than it was five years ago. This sentiment is supported by analysis from The Bookseller in 2023, which found that the post-2020 surge in publishing Black authors “failed to result in the promised broadening of publishing’s output.”
“The steep drop in books for five-to-nine-year-olds featuring Black main characters is not just disappointing – it’s further evidence of the quiet rollback that has taken place over the last two years,” stated Jasmine Richards, founder of inclusive fiction studio Storymix. “And if you’ve been paying attention, it’s not a surprise.”
The IBC report arrives amidst a wider crisis in children’s literacy. The National Literacy Trust reports that reading for pleasure is at an all-time low, with only one in three children aged eight to 18 saying they enjoy reading in 2025 – a 36% decline since 2005. Marcus Satha, co-founder of IBC, emphasized the missed opportunity, stating the report “highlights the huge missed opportunity to show children, through high-quality, authentic storytelling, that everybody belongs and everybody adds value to society.”
His partner, Sarah, added that the findings are particularly concerning given the current reading crisis, arguing that the limited range of books available is failing to engage a wider audience of potential readers. The report also cautions against relying on “non-Own Voice stories” – narratives featuring marginalized characters created by authors without lived experience of those identities – deeming such representation “superficial” and easily detected by readers.
