Creating Inclusive Libraries and Curricula

Creating Inclusive Libraries and Curricula: Go Beyond the Secret Garden with Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor

About the event

Join us for this special fully funded CPD event for primary school teachers and other professionals with a stake in school library provision, exploring race and representation in children's literature, and approaches to diversify school libraries.

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor will examine the historical roots of racially-minoritised representation in British children's literature and education and discuss how children's books today are shaped by, and in conversation with, the past. They will explore how to develop inclusive libraries, book-corners and curricula and how to work with historical texts that contain difficult material. Finally, they will consider how teachers can develop writing classrooms that value children's own experiences.

With a welcome speech and performance from poet Connor Allen, previous Children's Laureate of Wales, and opportunities for networking and discussion with fellow educators, this event will inspire and equip you to cultivate and deepen conversations around race and representation in your school library spaces and book corners, working to ensure every child feels seen and included.

You'll also leave the event with a free copy of Beyond the Secret Garden: Children’s Literature and Representations of Black and Racially minoritised People by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor.

Who should attend the conference?

This conference is designed primarily for colleagues working in primary schools.

*Spaces are fully funded and free of charge, but we request that you inform us in plenty of time if you are unable to attend, as your booking may be taking a place that somebody else wants.

Access

We are keen to make our conference as welcoming as possible. If there is anything you require to make this event more manageable for you (e.g. a quiet place for rest or prayer, mobility assistance, removal of items that cause a severe allergic reaction), please let us know in the form below.

The event will be delivered in English, but if you would appreciate the opportunity to join a Welsh-language discussion group please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.

Light refreshments will be served (e.g. teas, coffees, squash and biscuits/cake).

Speaker Biographies

Dr Darren Chetty is a Lecturer at University College London and an affiliate at the UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation. He contributed to the bestselling book, The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla. Darren has published six books to date, as co-author and co-editor. He advises on the Penguin / Runnymede Trust Lit in Colour project. His debut picture book, I’m Going to Make a Friend, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat, is published by Little Tiger.

Karen Sands-O'Connor is a Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, where she is developing a Study Centre for Inclusive Children's Literature. Her research focuses on the history of African, Caribbean and Black British representation in children's books. She has worked with CLPE, CILIP, Seven Stories and the British Library on issues of representation and inclusion, and in 2022 she created Britain's first exhibition on children's book and Black Britain, 'Listen to This Story!', which is currently touring in the North of England.

Darren and Karen provided training for the Carnegie judges and advise on the CLPE Reflecting Realities research.

Connor Allen is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and former Children’s Laureate Wales (2021-2023). He’s written for BBC Wales, BBC Radio 4, Wales Millennium Centre, and others. He wrote and performed in his acclaimed show The Making of a Monster, and was the 2023 winner of the Imison Award for his debut audio drama of the same title. His two debut poetry collections were released in 2023: Dominoes, for adults, and Miracles, for children. His work is inspired by elements of his own life including grief, love, masculinity, and identity. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from The University of South Wales.