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Parents and supporters

Whether you’re a parent, guardian, grandparent, aunt, uncle or just someone who’s stumbled across Lit in Colour, many of us will be curious to know more about what English literature is like in school today.

There is lots you can do, from reading our research to buying or borrowing titles by authors of colour for the young people in your life to supporting and spreading the word about the Lit in Colour campaign online.

Read the report

Read a quick summary of the research, which looked into what is currently being taught in both primary and secondary schools in the UK, what barriers might be preventing more books by writers of colour being included in the curriculum, and what needs to happen to make change.

Read the Lit in Colour report

Take a look at the key findings from research commissioned by Penguin and race equality think tank The Runnymede Trust.

READ MORE

Download the full report

Read the full results and recommendations, and download the report.

Download

Buy books by writers of colour for a young person in your life (or borrow from your local library)

Take a look at your own child’s bookshelves to see how many books you have by Black, Asian or minority ethnic writers. If you have a younger child, how many of their books feature a main character who is not white? Have this front of mind when you next buy books or borrow from your local library.

You can browse our bookshop.org Lit in Colour recommended reading list for young people of different ages below. Bookshop.org is an online bookshop supporting independent, local bookshops across the UK. The list includes books published by Penguin, as well as other publishers.

You can also take a look at The (incomplete) Lit in Colour book lists, which we have created for pre-school, primary and secondary school age children. There are now three book lists each for primary and secondary schools, each with over 100 titles from Penguin and our fellow publishers, and we have also produced an early years list. Although they’re geared towards educators, they’re a great resource if you’re looking to expand the books the children in your life read – there’s plenty of fiction and non-fiction across a variety of topics, and they’re all great, entertaining, informative books.

Pre-school list

2023 list

Explore titles for pre-school children.

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Primary lists

2023 list

The 3rd (incomplete) Lit in Colour primary book list, this year with focus pages on graphic novels and poetry.

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2022 list

The 2nd (incomplete) Lit in Colour primary book list.

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Covers of Little Badman, Funky Chickens, Kiki's Delivery Service and Tall Story

2021 list

The 1st (incomplete) Lit in Colour book list for primary.

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Secondary lists

2023 list

The 3rd (incomplete) Lit in Colour secondary book list, this year with focus pages highlighting the work of particularly prominent writers.

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2022 list

The 2nd (incomplete) Lit in Colour secondary book list.

DOWNLOAD
Covers of Exit West, Who Are We, Girl Woman Other and How to Change It, on a yellow background

2021 list

The 1st (incomplete) Lit in Colour book list for secondary.

DOWNLOAD

Shop our Lit in Colour reading list

Take a look at our reading lists – split by key stage – on bookshop.org.

VISIT Bookshop.org

Share on social media using #LitinColour

By starting a conversation about the lack of representation in the English curriculum, we hope to raise awareness of the need for change and why having access to a more representative range of stories matters for all students.

We've made a downloadable social asset which you can use below. Feel free to tag us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Social asset

Use on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

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Further reading

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