Dominican-American slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo has become the first ever writer of colour to win the UK’s most prestigious children’s books award, the Carnegie medal, which has a history stretching back to 1936 and includes Arthur Ransome, CS Lewis and Neil Gaiman among its former winners. Acevedo, the daughter of Dominican immigrants, took the medal for her debut, The Poet X. The book is dedicated to “all the little sisters yearning to see themselves”, and one of her former students in particular. It also found a dearth of books by writers of colour were being published in the UK. And as writers and illustrators for children we grow the readers and thinkers of the future,” she said.

Source: The Guardian June 18, 2019 12:22 UTC