Everyone deserves to be able to see themselves in the pages of books.
Our mission is to increase access to books that represent diverse people and stories, and to use those books to foster confidence, build understanding, and inspire action for social change.
At The Book Initiative, we want everyone to have the opportunity to engage with books that fully reflect the world we live in, in all its diversity. We believe that this is a powerful path towards creating a better, more just world.
Activities
Books
We are committed to advocating for compelling stories which reflect and honour our lived experiences in all their variety. Drawing on the amazing work being done by individuals and organisations around the world to promote diverse narratives for every reading level, we seek out and highlight diverse books, authors and illustrators to share with our local communities, around the world.
Access
Every year sees more remarkable books being published, but access to those books remains a major stumbling block. A core part of our work is dedicated to breaking down barriers to access and making sure that the stories that are being told are getting into the hands of readers. We work with our local community members and leaders to understand where those barriers exist and to find creative solutions to overcome them.
Engagement
Creating opportunities for engagement - with books and between people - is the heart of what we do. Whether in person, on paper, or online, all of our engagement initiatives start with books and share three aims: to foster confidence in individual readers, to build understanding within our communities, and to inspire every reader to become an active agent in making the changes - big and small - they want to see in our world.