Can we get a drumroll please? Allow us to introduce to you the next publisher in our excellent lineup of publishing partners – Lantana Publishing. Lantana is a UK-based publisher who tells under-represented and inclusive stories for all children. Check out the following interview with founder and publisher Dr. Alice Curry to learn more!

What is Lantana Publishing?

Lantana is an award-winning children’s book publisher and social enterprise with a mission to publish inclusive books celebrating diversity, social equality, and environmental sustainability. We are proud to work with authors from under-represented groups, and from across the globe. We are a signatory to the United Nations SDG Publishers Compact and we print our books with plant-based inks on sustainably sourced paper to minimize our carbon footprint.

Founded in 2014 by Dr. Alice Curry, winner of the 2017 Kim Scott Walwyn Prize for women in publishing, Lantana believes that great books can change mindsets. Our strapline – because all children deserve to see themselves in the books they read – underpins our aim to create a more inclusive book landscape for the next generation of young readers.

Tell us how Lantana started?

Before moving into publishing, I was a university lecturer in children’s literature. Through my research, I became increasingly aware of the gaps in children’s publishing – in particular, a lack of representation of minority groups. After a while, it became impossible not to notice that some stories were being told, while others were being ignored; some voices were heard, and others silenced. This seemed not only unjust but also uncommercial – not only were authors from under-represented groups being alienated from mainstream publishing, but readers from majority cultures were missing out on discovering new and exciting stories both from around the world and closer to home.

When my sister married a man whose parents had emigrated from Hong Kong, I became determined to try to fill in some of these gaps in children’s publishing. I wanted to make sure that there would be books on the shelves for my future nephews and nieces – of whom I now have three! – in which they could see themselves reflected and find recognizable role-models to inspire them. I chose the name Lantana because the Lantana flower has petals of several colors on the same stem – a metaphor for children of all races, ethnicities, genders, abilities and orientations reading happily together on one Earth.

How would you describe your publishing vision?

I founded Lantana in order to publish inclusive books that reflect the diversity of the world around us, and that mission has expanded over the years to encompass race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and disability and neurodivergence. It is a privilege to work towards more equal representation in children’s publishing with every book we publish, and infinitely rewarding to hear from parents and children who feel seen and heard when they read our books.

We are keen to shine a light on lived experiences that have largely gone unexplored – both at home and abroad, and across fiction and nonfiction – in the form of beautifully-illustrated picture books, chapter books for young readers with black and white illustrations, or middle grade fiction for 8–12-year-olds.

Our publishing tends to fall into two categories – local and global. Our local books explore the world through the eyes of characters from under-represented groups – a mixed-race child growing up at the intersection of two cultures, a young boy with two moms, a girl learning to cope with her mother’s hearing loss. Our global books, on the other hand, explore countries and cultures beyond our borders – a child celebrating the New Yam Festival in Nigeria, a young boy living in war-torn Syria, a store owner teaching a young girl how to read in a Colombian pueblo.

Any upcoming projects you’re particularly excited about?

Check out Lantana’s complete list that Lerner is proud to help make available to readers everywhere.