Launched in 2020 by Penguin Random House UK and the Runnymede Trust, the “Lit in Colour” campaign supports schools across the U.K. in making the English literature curriculum more inclusive. The campaign promotes the study of books by authors of color. Runnymede is a think tank focused on racial equality. A new joint report assesses the campaign’s impact over the past five years and calls for faster progress to ensure that more students can study books by authors of color.
Progress to date and remaining barriers
The report notes that the share of students in the U.K. studying books by authors of color has increased from 0.7 percent to 1.9 percent over the past five years. The report points out that lack of time, funding, subject knowledge, and teacher confidence continues to prevent the majority of schools in England from teaching more diverse texts. At the current pace, it would take another two decades before even one in ten students in the U.K. studies a book by an author of color. The report therefore calls on the British government as well as stakeholders from the education and publishing sectors to work more closely together to ensure that all students have the opportunity to read a wide range of books and see themselves, their communities, and ultimately modern Britain reflected in them.
