THE manager of The Grove Bookshop in Ilkley, Mike Sansbury, was recently approached by publishers Simon & Schuster to be champions of the Jhalak Prize, which is presented annually for the best fiction and poetry by a Writer of Colour. He was given sets of the Adult and Children’s longlists and invited to donate them to a local school and library. The prize has been going for five years and previous winners include Guy Gunaratne, Renni Eddo-Lodge and Jacob Ross. Mike said: “We chose as our recipients Ilkley Library and Bradford Grammar School. On Tuesday I went to BGS to present two sets of the children’s longlist. Staff at the school were keen to add these titles to the library because they feel that the children need positive diverse role models. Not only does this mean that they can read about characters they identify with, but it also informs the way they write and the world they portray when doing so.”

The donated books included the following Children’s & YA titles:

·         Atinuke & Onyinye Iwu - Too Small Tola (Walker Books)

·         Nii Ayikwei Parkes & Avril Filomeno - The GA Picture Alphabet (Kane Series)

·         Nizrana Farook - The Girl Who Stole an Elephant (Nosy Crow Ltd)

·         Kereen Getten - When Life Gives You Mangoes (Pushkin Children's Books)

·         Danielle Jawondo - And the Stars Were Burning Brightly (Simon & Schuster)

·         Catherine Johnson - Queen of Freedom (Pushkin Children's Books)

·         Hiba Noor Khan & Laura Chamberlain - The Little War Cat (Macmillan Children's Books)

·         Patrice Lawrence - Eight Pieces of Silva (Hodder Children's Books)

·         Bali Rai - Mohinder’s War (Bloomsbury Education)

·         Margaret Sturton - A Fox Called Herbert (Andersen Press)

·         Alex Wheatle - Cane Warriors (Andersen Press)