Tamarind Books was a small independent British publisher specialising in picture books, fiction and non-fiction featuring black and Asian children and children with disabilities. It was founded by Verna Wilkins in 1987 with the mission of redressing the balance of diversity in children's publishing,[1] and in 2007 became an imprint of Random House Children's Books UK.
 Tamarind Books logo | |
| Parent company | Random House |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founder | Verna Wilkins |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | London |
| Publication types | Children's books |
| Official website | www |
History
edit
Tamarind Books was founded by Grenada-born[2] Verna Wilkins in 1987 after her five-year-old son came home from school with a "This is Me" booklet in which he had coloured himself pink. When she offered him a brown crayon to use instead, he refused, saying that the image he had drawn of himself had to have pink skin because it was for a book.[3][4] When she researched the matter further, she arrived at the conclusion that her child and other children from the ethnic minorities were so under-represented in children's books that they were being denied an important stage in their learning, so she decided to start publishing books to meet that need.[5]
For twenty years, Wilkins ran Tamarind Books from her home, writing many of the books herself, working with the support of her family and a small group of friends and freelancers. New books were published only when there was enough money in the company bank account. In the early years, she sold the books herself.[6] Later, Tamarind books were distributed by commercial distributors.
Two of the imprint's best-known titles, both written by Wilkins, are The Life of Stephen Lawrence (2001),[7] and Dave and The Tooth Fairy (1993), featuring a computer-literate black tooth fairy.[8][9] Tamarind also specialises in biographies of black role models, in the Black Stars series, which includes biographies of Malorie Blackman, Benjamin Zephaniah, Rudolph Walker, Baroness Scotland, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, David Grant and Samantha Tross.[10]
Acquisition by Random House
editIn 2007, Tamarind Books was acquired by Random House Group Ltd and became an imprint of Random House Children's Books (UK).[11]
In 2008, Tamarind Books was awarded the Decibel Cultural Diversity Award in the British Book Awards (Nibbies).[12]
In October 2009, Wilkins retired from publishing,[13] and a successor, Patsy Isles, was announced. In January 2011, a new team comprising editors from Random House (Ruth Knowles, Parul Bavishi, Joe Marriott and Sue Buswell) were brought in to run Tamarind, with Verna Wilkins acting as a consultant, with the patrons of Tamarind, alongside Wilkins, being Michael Rosen, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jamila Gavin and Meera Syal.[14][15]
The titles that were historically published under the Tamarind Books imprint are now part of the Puffin and Ladybird lists.[16]
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ "About Us", Tamarind website.
- ^ "Biography - Verna Wilkins", Government of Grenada, 30 September 2011.
- ^ Agnew, Kate (7 October 2008). "Imaginary worlds where everyone is the same colour". The Guardian.
- ^ Article for BBIA, Publishing News. Archived 17 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Tamarind Books' Verna Wilkins talks to Michelle Brooks about Making her Mark on Children's books", OHTV interview. YouTube, 24 August 2010.
- ^ Shercliff, Emma (18 August 2014). "Books for the Masses? Publishing Genre Fiction in Africa: Africa Writes, 13 July 2014". Africa in Words.
- ^ McGavin, Harvey (20 April 2001). "Life and death of a south London schoolboy". TES.
- ^ "Dave and the Tooth Fairy". Publishers Weekly. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "Dave and The Tooth Fairy". BookTrust. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ Wilkins, Verna (15 April 2008). Samantha Tross: Surgeon. Tamarind. ISBN 978-1-870516-48-8.
- ^ "Random House acquires Tamarind", The Bookseller, 7 December 2007.
- ^ a b Jones, Philip (14 May 2008). "Foyles and CCV pick up nibbies". The Bookseller. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
- ^ "Tamarind Publisher Verna Wilkins To Retire At RHCB", Book2book, 30 October 2009.
- ^ "Tamarind Announces New Patrons", 6 December 2011.
- ^ Williams, Charlotte (9 January 2012). "Tamarind: 'more multicultural writing needed'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
- ^ Tamarind Books at Puffin.
- ^ IPG (March 2007). "Independent Publishing Awards: The Pick of Independent Publishing". Independent Publishers Guild. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
IPG Diversity Award [...] Highly commended in this category was Tamarind Books, an independent that has specialised in multicultural children's books and titles for black children in particular for 20 years.
- ^ Publishing News, 2008. Archived 13 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Verna Wilkins | The reluctant publisher – 20 years on", The Galley Club, 2008–2009.
External links
edit- Tamarind Books at Penguin.
- Verna Wilkins, "The Right To Be Seen", Patrick Hardy Lecture, 29 October 2008.
- "Verna Wilkins on Tamarind Books Part 1", Random House Children's Publishers UK, 27 August 2013.