A Place at the Table 2018

On 6th February 2018, thanks to a bursary from CILIP North East, I attended Inclusive Minds’ third annual A Place at the Table event at Penguin Random House in London. A Place at the Table aims to provide a space for the children’s book industry to share best practice around inclusion and diversity and commit to taking practical actions to effect change. In this blog post, I’ll be reflecting on the day and outlining some of the actions that Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and Newcastle University are taking through the Vital North Partnership…

Author Juno Dawson, in her opening keynote, celebrated how far the publishing industry has come since the first A Place at the Table event in 2016. She mentioned lots of amazing books and authors – from Patrice Lawrence’s prize-winning debut Orangeboy, to Angie Thomas’s bestselling The Hate U Give – and new initiatives like CILIP’s current diversity review of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards. I noted lots of books I want to read – including Juno’s!

Author Juno Dawson opened the A Place at the Table event. Image: Inclusive Minds
Author Juno Dawson opened the A Place at the Table event. Image: Inclusive Minds

Then there were the roundtable and forum discussions, where we discussed barriers to authentic inclusion, and identified ways to shift these. For Seven Stories, the artform of children’s literature is at the heart of everything they do – and it’s by going to events like this that they can flag up with publishers that inclusion is fundamental to the national story they aim to tell. Seven Stories’ workforce (like that of many arts organisations) is not particularly diverse – they’re aiming to shift that barrier through targeted pathways to work programmes from 2018 to 2022.

Highlights of the day for me were hearing from Year 10 pupil Jarvia, one of Inclusive Minds’ Ambassadors, about her reading experiences – she spoke about reading new writing on Wattpad as she feels it’s less filtered – and I loved hearing Jay Hulme’s “angry trans” performance poetry (his description!):

In the afternoon discussions, I ended up sat next to the author, actress and presenter Cerrie Burnell. In her presentation, she talked about how the books she read as a child didn’t reflect her experience. She recounted a story about playing at Peter Pan in the playground: there was already a Wendy and a Tinkerbell, so one of the other children suggested that she could be Captain Hook – Cerrie was adamant that she was more of a Tigerlily. Cerrie encouraged her fellow authors to represent difference in an incidental way: “write the thing that you know, or write the thing that you want to see.”

Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike mysteries, talked about the two types of offence her writing might potentially cause (the one she loses sleep over is making errors about misrepresenting cultures and experiences outside of her own, which is why in her recent books she has been working with sensitivity readers) and Di Airey of Diversity Dynamics reminded us that although publishing is in some ways ahead of other sectors, that we still have a way to go: “There’s not enough change: there are too many people who hide an aspect of their difference.”

Discussion inclusion, equality and diversity at A Place At The Table. Image: Inclusive Minds
Discussion inclusion, equality and diversity at A Place at the Table. Image: Inclusive Minds

I also heard about so many other initiatives and voices over the course of the day through the insights and case studies: from new publishers like Knights Of;  titles including Penny Joelson’s I Have No Secrets and Otter-Barry Books and Pop-Up Projects’ Rising Stars anthology; initiatives like Penguin Random House’s WriteNow programme; prizes like the Amnesty CILIP Honour; accessible events as part of the Southbank Centre’s Imagine Festival. I’m taking lots of ideas and contacts away from the event to follow up on.

It was an inspiring and thought-provoking day, but ensuring the Vital North Partnership’s activities are inclusive is an ongoing process. We’ve done some interesting work, such as our Diverse Voices? symposium in November, and our recent Geographies of Gender and Generation collaboration, and in 2018, we’ll be focussing on BAME voices in children’s literature and activist networks through a new AHRC Creative Economy postdoctoral fellowship led by Dr Aishwarya Subramanian. But there’s still more to do. As Juno said so eloquently in her opening keynote: “The worst thing we can do is think we’ve done it, we’ve achieved diversity. We haven’t done diversity. You can’t tick diversity off the list.”

For more information about A Place at the Table 2018, visit: http://www.inclusiveminds.com/a-place-at-the-table-2018.php 

Exploring Marine Sciences at Seven Stories

In September, visitors to Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books went ‘under the sea’ with Newcastle University’s Marine Sciences. We had a whale of a time!

Way back in April, I went on a trip to the coast to meet Annie Russell at Newcastle University’s Dove Marine Laboratory in Cullercoats. I’d heard that Marine Sciences, which is based in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, had some really interesting outreach and engagement initiatives, and I wanted to find out more…

While I was visiting, Annie showed me the creatures that live at Dove Marine, and told me about her work on engaging children and young people through taking marine science activities out to other venues. It struck me that it could be really fascinating to explore this with Seven Stories’ visitors, too.

So, on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th September 2017, Seven Stories and Marine Sciences collaborated to offer a special ‘Under the Sea’ themed weekend!

Faculty Outreach Officer Charlotte Foster introduces families visiting Seven Stories to different crab species. Image: Newcastle University
Faculty Outreach Officer Charlotte Foster introduces families visiting Seven Stories to different crab species. Image: Newcastle University

Faculty Outreach Officer Charlotte Foster led a team of students and together they took over Seven Stories’ Studio space. And they brought some amazing marine creatures with them!

Seven Stories’ visitors had the opportunity to see and handle starfish, sea anenomes, crabs and lobsters in designated handling sessions. It was amazing to see these creatures up close and learn about their behaviours and habitats. They fascinated both adults and children – even if some of them found Larry the lobster a bit scary…

Visitors taking part in the animal handling sessions. Image: Newcastle University
Visitors taking part in the animal handling sessions. Image: Newcastle University

Students from the Street Science team supported the handling sessions, origami and colouring in crafts, and an activity station all about marine conservation.

And Seven Stories’ staff got involved as well! They delivered under the sea-themed storytimes, colourful displays and decorations in the bookshop and café, and I even spotted some crustacean croissants…

Seaside shortbread and crustacean croissants! Image: Newcastle University
Seaside shortbread and crustacean croissants! Image: Newcastle University

Cathy Brumby, Seven Stories’ Senior Visitor Services Co-ordinator, said: “Charlotte and her team were fab! So friendly and approachable. The craft was great and well received, as well as the actual creatures, of course. It was lovely to be able to extend the activity throughout the building.”

Hooray for fish! A display of sea-themed stories in the Seven Stories Bookshop. Image: Newcastle University
Hooray for fish! A display of sea-themed stories in the Seven Stories Bookshop. Image: Newcastle University

Charlotte said: “Staff and students from Newcastle University’s Dove Marine Laboratory had a wonderful time introducing sea creatures at the Seven Stories ‘Under the sea’ event. It was a fantastic setting and Seven Stories were incredibly supportive (some even joined in holding a starfish or two!)

The weekend was a great opportunity for the next generation to learn about our amazing oceans. The team at the Dove hopes to continue working alongside Seven Stories to help inspire and enthuse families about the world around them.”

Find out more about Marine Science Outreach at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nes/outreach/marine/

Mastering museums at Seven Stories: Museum, Gallery and Heritage MA placements

Newcastle is home to some great museums – and Newcastle University’s Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies degrees, which equip new professionals moving into the sector. This summer, two of Newcastle University’s Museum Studies MA students, Sam Dunning and Victoria Earnest, took up placements at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books. I asked them what they got up to on their placements…

Hi Victoria and Sam! Please introduce yourselves.

Victoria: Hello! I’m from Texas and graduated from Texas State University with a BA in philosophy, and trained as a special education teacher before starting my MA here in Newcastle.

Samantha: I’m Samantha Dunning. I did my undergraduate in Anthropology from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. I always loved museums, both visiting and volunteering, so decided to get my MA Museums Studies and hopefully turn my love into a career.

Samantha created facsimiles of older comics for the 7S Newsagents for the Comics exhibition. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, photography by Paul Norris
Samantha created facsimiles of older comics for the 7S Newsagents for the Comics exhibition. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Paul Norris

Tell me about the Museums Studies MA course – how are you finding studying at Newcastle?

Samantha: I’m very happy with my decision to attend Newcastle University. The modules were stimulating, theoretical and practical. I’ve enjoyed living in Newcastle. There are plenty of museums and historical places to visit. It’s also one of the friendliest places I’ve been.

Victoria: It’s been absolutely exhilarating! The course has been very practically useful, and we’ve had some fascinating guest lecturers and opportunities for hands-on work. The museums in and around Newcastle are all top-notch and there’s always something new and exciting to go check out.

What attracted you to do a placement at Seven Stories?

Victoria: I actually heard about Seven Stories before I even moved over here; everyone who knows my love of fairytales and children’s books told me I would fall in love with Seven Stories, and they were completely right! Having the opportunity to do my placement working with children and books was perfect for me.

Samantha: I have done little archival work in the past and wanted the knowledge and experience. With the installation of a new exhibition coming, I saw the opportunity to do other museum work. I wanted to get as much out of my placement as possible. Seven Stories offered that. As a lover of books, I knew the collections and exhibitions here would be of great interest to me.

Victoria worked on Seven Stories’ SEND programmes, which include sensory backpacks for each exhibition. Photography by Victoria

So, what have you been up to on your placements?

Samantha: I have done a lot of different work in my 30 days. I helped with the framing for the Comics exhibition. I also created facsimiles of older, more delicate comics that the visitors could page through and read. I assisted in the de-installation of the Michael Morpurgo exhibition and the installation of the Comics exhibition. Finally, I worked on a new archive acquisition: researching, sorting, numbering, repackaging, etc.

Victoria: I’ve been fortunate enough to learn about a few different projects from the Learning team. I’ve looked at the Reader in Residence and Power of Reading programmes and the positive impact they have in schools, I’ve done some work on the Hooks Into Books programme, and I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on some school sessions delivered by the fabulous Storycatchers. Because of my interest in special education I’ve also had the opportunity to learn about the SEND programmes and resources Seven Stories offers and look at how Seven Stories prioritises accessibility.

How is your placement helping you to develop the skills you’ll need for a career in the museums sector?

Victoria: Being able to focus solely on the way museum learning is developed and delivered has been so useful; our MA course touches on a little of everything, which is wonderful, but having the opportunity to see how the particular area in which I want to make a career works in the real world has been fascinating – and, honestly, a lot of fun. I love museum learning but I definitely needed some practical know-how to back up the enthusiasm!

Samantha: I have definitely received some practical, hands-on experience in a museum and archive. I could use all of this in the future. I also witnessed many discussions and decision-making that I could look back to if I ever find myself in similar situations.

Samantha worked with the Seven Stories' Collections team. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, photography by Damian Wootten
Samantha worked with the Seven Stories’ Collections team. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Damian Wootten

What have you learned from your placement at Seven Stories?

Samantha: I have learned some conservation techniques, archival research and database entry, the process of exhibition installation, condition checking and much more.

Victoria: I’ve learned how much impact reading outside of schools has for children both in school and in life in general, and how that informs museum learning programmes. Seven Stories does amazing work immersing children in stories, and that makes an incredible difference in school performance in addition to just being a whole lot of fun for the children. Museum learning programmes have a unique opportunity to be as engaging and entertaining as they are practical and useful.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Victoria: Many, many thanks to everyone on the Learning and Participation team and the visitor’s centre staff for making my placement experience so fantastic! I’m so thrilled I had the opportunity to be a part of the wonderful work Seven Stories does.

Thanks for all your hard work Sam and Victoria, and good luck with the rest of your MA!