Former Scholastic employees namely Aimee Felone (UK assistant editor) and media development director David Stevens have launched a new children’s publishing firm called Knights Of.
Focusing on fiction for children between 5 to 15-year-olds, the London-based company aims to promote diversity and inclusion as it relates to content, writers and illustrators. In spreading its mandate, Knights Of is using its new website and the hashtag #BooksMadeBetter to allow established authors and underrepresented voices to share articles, opinions and reviews on children’s books.
The new firm is open to submissions via its website’s live chat mechanism that started October 27 and initial titles will be announced early next year. Independent UK publisher Little Tiger Group will support the firm with design and production services.
Knights Of’s coming on the scene comes less than a year after a Scholastic report on reading trends found that diversity is a hot topic among US six- to 17-year-olds and their parents.
According to The Kids & Family Reading Report which also surveyed parents of under-fives, more children are interested in reading stories about different races, cultures and faiths, though access to these books are still considered scarce.
