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How trans activists in publishing hijacked a children's book competition to pursue a personal vendetta

212 replies

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 25/02/2022 04:51

The Phoenix Book Award is an initiative to encourage reading amongst children of the borough of Lambeth, London, launched in 2007. Back in 2017, it described itself as This exciting South London based Book Prize targets Year 5, 6, 7 and 8 pupils in Lambeth, encouraging them to read through the transition years. Phoenix is a unique book prize as students are involved in every stage of the award; from picking the shortlist, to shadowing the award and then finally voting for their favourite. It is open to all schools in the Lambeth area.

This year it's "judged by children from Years 6, 7 & 8 in Lambeth."

Children at participating schools read the books from a long-list (a very long list: as many as 32 books!) over a period of months, and whittle it down to from there. It sounds like an absolutely amazing concept for generating enthusiasm about reading.

Let's hear from the adults who do the paperwork for it:
After a break due to the pandemic we are delighted to announce that the Lambeth #PhoenixBookAward is returning for 2022!

This year, children were asked to nominate books that helped them get through lockdown. The result is a fantastic, diverse, and hugely competetive shortlist.

twitter.com/LambethPhoenix/status/1496789801718059011?s=20&t=F1f0NO5YFo712FQS40-3-w

Sounds lovely, right?

Yesterday, the twitter account for the prize posted the shortlist:

Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen
When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten
The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell
The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf

twitter.com/LambethPhoenix/status/1496791630476722184?s=20&t=aQmwjEpxiId-FatE21miAw

(Now another round of voting begins, and we'll know the winner on the 12th May 2022!)

This was accompanied by a little graphic showing the shortlist.

And that's where this wonderful heartwarming story of children enjoying reading went wrong.

One author's publishing agent took issue with the children of Lambeth having shortlisted another author with whom she disagreed, and decided to falsify that graphic to remove any record that Onjali Raúf and her book The Boy at the Back of the Class had been shortlisted by the children of Lambeth. Then she tweeted her false version from the business twitter of the literary agency she runs, for other people to unknowingly circulate.

You're probably wondering how we can know this. Well, we know, because she boasted about doing exactly that from her personal twitter account.

Transcript for those using a screenreader

Tweet 1 from Agent: Am I petty enough and procrastinating enough to amend a shortlist image to take out the shortlisted terf. Probably.

Tweet 2 from Agent: Turns out I am.

If you go here, you can read the incredible thread from Gillian Philip explaining this mess in more detail. Gillian's the one who explained events in the first place.

twitter.com/Gillian_Philip/status/1496907435830919172?s=20&t=aQmwjEpxiId-FatE21miAw

If you are struggling to view twitter threads without an account, go here. Graham Linehan has made a version of the thread that you can scroll through without a twitter account.
grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/there-will-always-be-women-who-hate?utm_source=url

Here are some other things you should know: Onjali Raúf founded an organisation that campaigns to end modern slavery and trafficking. makingherstory.org.uk/contact/

She also founded O's Refugee Aid Team which supports refugees in Calais; in fact, 50% of the royalties from that shortlisted book, The Boy at the Back of the Class go to their projects to support refugees! Yep, this is the same book that agent is trying to suppress positive publicity for.

www.osrefugeeaidteam.org/

This is a thread of some of the books Onjali Raúf has published: twitter.com/Dora_Callisto/status/1496988662806032386?s=20&t=aQmwjEpxiId-FatE21miAw which is where I found out that children are involved in the awards process.

At this point, I can only echo Dora's thread and ask, how do you think you'd feel if you were a child who'd nominated The Boy at the Back of the Class as one of the "books that helped [you] get through lockdown"? How would you feel to find out that another shortlisted nominee's agent had edited your nomination out?

It's despicable behaviour.

How trans activists in publishing hijacked a children's book competition to pursue a personal vendetta
How trans activists in publishing hijacked a children's book competition to pursue a personal vendetta
OP posts:
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12
keeptalkinghappytalk · 25/02/2022 15:10

Bravo Onjali ! You are so much better than that nasty wealthy posh woman … we value you !!!

bobthebuilderofstars · 25/02/2022 15:05

Jesús ! I wonder if Private Eye picks this up too.

It really is spiteful

Awkwardy · 25/02/2022 15:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
PurgatoryOfPotholes · 25/02/2022 14:58

I'm personally inclined to extend compassion to Alice S-H's author. Not enough to buy her book, but I'll reserve my scorn for Alice's behaviour.

Getten was in a precarious position. She's not an established author (this is her first book, right?) and she'd just been given a front-row seat on how her extremely privileged agent treated Asian authors who expressed the wrong point of view. Alice went to a girls-only school that today costs £10,435 per term for day pupils. I assume she is extremely well connected.

I'd expect most people's self-preservation instincts to activate in such a social situation. I won't crucify a writer for a laughing emoji when she felt put on the spot.

Alice's actions were entirely premeditated and extremely manipulative, and point to a very spiteful person. I think she'd have turned on any of her authors quickly enough if they'd voiced any opposition.

OP posts:
Carriemac · 25/02/2022 14:56

Don't forget to review it as well as order and read it

AlsoNotAGirl · 25/02/2022 14:44

Onjali’s books sound great. I don’t have children/grandchildren the right age but have ordered a couple of her books as gifts

tractorhome · 25/02/2022 14:31

The more "lovely" someone is in this industry, the warier I am until I get to know them. The more of a cynical sweary misanthrope they are, the likelier they are to be straight-up and genuinely decent grin

Yes, and I wish I had learned this earlier.

OzziePopPop · 25/02/2022 14:31

Sales of that book are soaring 😀 just ordered it for my son in year 6 to read.

DomesticatedZombie · 25/02/2022 14:25

The more "lovely" someone is in this industry, the warier I am until I get to know them. The more of a cynical sweary misanthrope they are, the likelier they are to be straight-up and genuinely decent

Grin
tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 25/02/2022 14:22

@Gumbomambo

Just wanted to say this thread has made me so happy. I was so upset about the kids in Lambeth, I am from a working class background in Yorkshire and anything that helps those children in Lambeth is wonderful. To take away a single bit of hope and help is despicable. Shame on them. None of our regular idiots here to defend this behaviour I note.
They're likely telling us off on another thread at the mo, don't worry I'm sure they will be along soon Confused
Wanderingowl · 25/02/2022 14:22

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Ah, so just a petty time-wasting exercise in the creation of an imaginary reality where people who disagree with you on unrelated things don't exist. Thanks for explaining.

MoonOnASpoon · 25/02/2022 14:21

what is it about publishing books for children that makes people so crazy?

Good question - I think publishing in general involves a lot of backbiting, resentment and competitiveness. But with children's publishing there's and extra layer of "niceness" - not actual niceness, but the cliche that children's books are all about heartwarming, lovely, caring do-goodery, fun, and Moral Lessons.

That attracts a certain type of person who has a need to see themselves as lovely, righteous and caring, and for others to see them as that, ultimately as a selfish aim, and they will tread on others mercilessly. The genderwoo trend and pronounery is a huge marker for this type. The more "lovely" someone is in this industry, the warier I am until I get to know them. The more of a cynical sweary misanthrope they are, the likelier they are to be straight-up and genuinely decent :o

Generalisations of course – but borne out many a time IME.

oneyearin · 25/02/2022 14:21

Ordered it 👏

Gumbomambo · 25/02/2022 14:20

Just wanted to say this thread has made me so happy. I was so upset about the kids in Lambeth, I am from a working class background in Yorkshire and anything that helps those children in Lambeth is wonderful. To take away a single bit of hope and help is despicable. Shame on them. None of our regular idiots here to defend this behaviour I note.

tractorhome · 25/02/2022 14:17

@HenriettaTriceratops

Thank you, I've just been on to buy her book. Outrageous behaviour from that agent. It always surprises me how nasty pockets of children's publishing seems to be. Is it the same in adult publishing, and if not, what is it about publishing books for children that makes people so crazy?
I don't know about children's publishing but I have known a couple of agents in adult publishing who are unprofessional, spiteful bullies with massive egos, punching down on others in the writing community to hide the fact that they don't really know what they're doing.

Anyone can call themselves an agent.

DomesticatedZombie · 25/02/2022 14:15

[quote WinterTrees]I see Jess Phillips has just weighed in on OR's side.

twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1497128257728176138[/quote]
Good lord.

Writers being professional: I agree, Necessary, that there's no real requirement for an author to be diplomatic or politic. Contemporary trends for authors to 'be a brand' and engage with the entire world and its aunt the public are probably not really conducive to producing quality lit.

LilithOfEden · 25/02/2022 14:13

[quote WinterTrees]I see Jess Phillips has just weighed in on OR's side.

twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1497128257728176138[/quote]
Interesting. I wonder if the penny's finally dropped for Jess.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 25/02/2022 14:06

@NecessaryScene

Yes, I mean to some extent, if you're an up-and-coming author, "humour your agent" is going to be very much a good general rule to live by.

If the author herself's not actually leading one of these vindictive mobs, or sticking the knife in and it was just a "laugh emoji" level, then it's hardly crime of the century, even though it looks bad. I'll choose to interpret it as a "nervous laughter" response... (I imagine I'd be nervous if swimming in the shark-infested waters of children's publishing).

And I don't actually expect professionalism from authors. I expect writing. It's the agents that should be being professional - including respect for the authors whose talent they earn a living from.

I’ll take your point that it could be nervous laughter and I very much agree about not condemning someone based on one emoji tweet, but I disagree that writers don’t need to be professional. If they are just going to sit in their studies and never engage with readers other than by producing a manuscript from time to time then maybe but generally children’s authors do events in libraries and bookshops, school visits etc and I think for this we do need to expect them to behave properly in public and not cheer on bullying.
WinterTrees · 25/02/2022 14:02

I see Jess Phillips has just weighed in on OR's side.

twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1497128257728176138

HelloCrocus · 25/02/2022 13:52

@HenriettaTriceratops I was listening to a podcast about that the other day. Apparently in kid's and teen publishing, there is much more of a sense that they have a moral imperative to give readers the "right" ideas, provide role models, not traumatise them through lack of the right role models, etc. It can also attract people with unresolved issues chips on their shoulders from their own childhoods, who want to write or publish the book that they think would have helped them - which can encourage this utilitarian and tendentious approach to literature. So basically it all gets very personal and egos are very much involved, apparently quite often in a state of arrested emotional development.

User1isnotavailable · 25/02/2022 13:52

@Goatsaregreat

Imagine having a mindset that not only thinks this is acceptable but boasts about it? Openly intimidating a Muslim women, trashing her reputation. The epitome of cancel culture. What a vile thing to do.
Indeed.
DameHelena · 25/02/2022 13:49

@NecessaryScene

Yes, I mean to some extent, if you're an up-and-coming author, "humour your agent" is going to be very much a good general rule to live by.

If the author herself's not actually leading one of these vindictive mobs, or sticking the knife in and it was just a "laugh emoji" level, then it's hardly crime of the century, even though it looks bad. I'll choose to interpret it as a "nervous laughter" response... (I imagine I'd be nervous if swimming in the shark-infested waters of children's publishing).

And I don't actually expect professionalism from authors. I expect writing. It's the agents that should be being professional - including respect for the authors whose talent they earn a living from.

Nah, I'm not giving her a pass on that. She's a competent adult, older than the agent, I think (?), and she'd have to be less bright than I assume she is to think that's how you comport yourself as a professional. Sure, publishing can be cliquey, back-biting, hard-nosed etc, but not like that.
HenriettaTriceratops · 25/02/2022 13:32

Thank you, I've just been on to buy her book. Outrageous behaviour from that agent. It always surprises me how nasty pockets of children's publishing seems to be. Is it the same in adult publishing, and if not, what is it about publishing books for children that makes people so crazy?

Tiphaine · 25/02/2022 13:18

For anyone thinking of buying her books the kindle edition of The Boy at the Back of the Class is 99p at the moment.

NecessaryScene · 25/02/2022 12:58

Yes, I mean to some extent, if you're an up-and-coming author, "humour your agent" is going to be very much a good general rule to live by.

If the author herself's not actually leading one of these vindictive mobs, or sticking the knife in and it was just a "laugh emoji" level, then it's hardly crime of the century, even though it looks bad. I'll choose to interpret it as a "nervous laughter" response... (I imagine I'd be nervous if swimming in the shark-infested waters of children's publishing).

And I don't actually expect professionalism from authors. I expect writing. It's the agents that should be being professional - including respect for the authors whose talent they earn a living from.

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