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

[PurgatoryOfPotholes]

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.

Ok, so outside of the politics angle. This is out and out cheating in a competition. Someone representing one competitor, with the knowledge of that competitor, set out to falsify documentation to make it appear as if one competitor wasn't in the competition.

I've ordered the book for my nephew. Going to order him the others by the same author, one a week and out them away for Christmas.

I honestly had to read this twice and then ask my Oh to read it. I didn't think I could be reading it right.... what sort of arse hole does this?!

@SwissBall

Yeah I couldn’t really get into Goodnight Mister Tom because all I could think about was their white privilege.

Knocks quite a number of classics on the head, doesn't it. Jane Eyre had a very abusive childhood, but who cares, she was white and didn't have a disability.

Oliver Twist - horrific childhood, orphaned, forced into criminality, but none of this counts because he too was white and able-bodied. See also: David Copperfield, Little Dorrit and most of the rest of Dickens.

It's writing by numbers, isn't it.

Just bought The boy at the back of the class from Amazon, some of the one star reviews (of which there are relatively few) are hair-raising. Which reminds me, the blue-rinse has been on a bit of a roller coaster lately!

I started buying Rauf's books for my children after seeing a previous MRA pile on. They really hate women who don't bow down.

They've both loved them and I would highly recommend her.

@Wanderingowl

Ok, so outside of the politics angle. This is out and out cheating in a competition. Someone representing one competitor, with the knowledge of that competitor, set out to falsify documentation to make it appear as if one competitor wasn't in the competition.

Not really. The children of Lambeth vote for the shortlisted authors and with luck they are not on Twitter so won't be aware of any of this nonsense.

What the young ninny-headed agent and her author have done is publicise the author's success in getting shortlisted, which is fair enough, but instead of either only mentioning her (which would have been fine), or giving the whole shortlist, they have deliberately and pointedly edited the shortlist so that only Onjali Rauf is not shown. The agent explicitly described her as a t* to justify this.

Her author really ought to know better. She is a middle-aged woman who has only recently been published for the first time. It must have been a huge struggle to get that chance, given that she has none of the privilege that we are talking about in this thread, but that doesn't mean she has to laugh along with the bullies for fear of being cast out herself.

@IcakethereforeIam

Just bought The boy at the back of the class from Amazon, some of the one star reviews (of which there are relatively few) are hair-raising. Which reminds me, the blue-rinse has been on a bit of a roller coaster lately!

I like the one who is a bit annoyed that the characters mother doesnt buy her a birthday present

I mean she loves them and all that but without a birthday present is it really love 😩

I can also highly recommend The Night Bus Hero, where Onjali Q Rauf deals with issues like homelessness ( why might someone become homeless?) , bereavement and empathy in a way that is never preachy or sentimental. She is such an interesting writer. I find the bewildering stupidity of Alice’s comments almost unbelievable.

Exactly the right age. My DC's teacher read this to the class in year 5.

Brilliant, thank you!

Her author really ought to know better. She is a middle-aged woman who has only recently been published for the first time. It must have been a huge struggle to get that chance, given that she has none of the privilege that we are talking about in this thread, but that doesn't mean she has to laugh along with the bullies for fear of being cast out herself.

No, but I'm willing to cut her a bit of slack as she maybe didn't quite grasp how unprofessional, shitty and pathetic her agent was being. It's possible she considers her agent an example of how to comport yourself as a professional in publishing, which is unfortunate, but I expect she'll learn.

@MoonOnASpoon

I think you've misunderstood. I read it as they're saying that a story from any of those perspectives would be accepted over a story from the perspective of a white, middle-class child

It literally says "we are not interested in stories about white able bodied WW2 evacuees but would welcome that story from a disabled, LGBTQ+ or BIPOC perspective."*

However, you could be white, able-bodied AND gay/Q surely? So it makes no sense in its rush to dissociate the white, middle-class agent from the horror of white, middle-class, able-bodied dreadfulness and privilege.

It’s shot the book straight up the charts!

:o brilliant. Hope that reassures Onjali too.

Yes, that was what i meant - that being white doesn't preclude you from being a lesbian, so why have they ruled sexuality into the rest of it? Or are they just a bit stupid and inconsiderate...?

"LilithOfEden

SwissBall

Yeah I couldn’t really get into Goodnight Mister Tom because all I could think about was their white privilege.

I felt the same reading Judith Kerr's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. She needed to check her white privilege big time.

(Obviously joking. It's a brilliant book series, based on JK's own escape from Nazi Germany as a child, for anyone looking for recommendations"

Yeah, Carrie's War did nothing for me. They were all white and therefore "over done."

I am so depressed by all this. Onjali Raouf's books are amazing and my dc have read them all. I found The Star Outside My Window utterly heartbreaking - I sobbed all the way through. The depiction of domestic abuse and the characters' responses was so multilayered and nuanced, and left one with the real sense that the author really understood the issues in a very significant way. To dismiss her is disgusting

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.

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

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?

@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.

@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.

@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.

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

twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1497128257728176138

@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.

[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.

[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.

@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.

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.

Ordered it 👏