By Camryn Vodden, Charlotte Harper, Ekta Rajagopalan
The Little Rebels Award is an award for radical children's fiction. Some of the award's entry criteria include:
Books must be suitable for ages 0-12
Only fiction and storybooks are considered
The book must have been published in the UK
The author(s) or illustrator must be primarily resident in the UK
This year's award ceremony took place in October in London. The winner receives a £2,000 prize, funded by the Barry Amiel and Normal Melburn Trust. 2024’s winner was J.T. Williams, author of The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison.
About the Award
Held at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education on 16 October, the event was chaired by Dr. Darren Chetty. Williams won the award for her book, The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison, illustrated by Simone Douglas and published by the HarperCollins imprint, Farshore in 2023. Williams was joined by the following shortlistees: Helen Rutter & Elisa Paganelli, Harry Woodgate, Yaba Badoe, James Catchpole & Karen George, Kate Rafiq and Jen Reid.
Having run since 2013, previous winners include Sarah Garland, Gillian Cross, Gill Lewis, Alexis Deacon & Viviane Schwarz, Andrea Beaty, Zanib Mian, Catherine Johnson, Jane Porter, A.M. Dassu, Sarah Hagger-Holt and Patrice Lawrence.
Solely focused on radical fiction aimed at 0-12-year-olds, the Barry Amiel and Normal Melburn Trust funded the award. The Little Rebels website states, “The award is given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and was established in conjunction with Letterbox Library. Letterbox Library and Housmans Bookshop now administer the award.”
Background
The Alliance of Radical Booksellers is an organisation which unites independent booksellers against the difficulties of navigating a market dominated by big chain sellers. The alliance was formed in the nineties in response to the collapse of the Net Book Agreement, which had fixed the prices of new books across UK booksellers since 1900. When industry giants like Waterstones began to break with the Net Book Agreements, many independent and radical sellers were pushed out of the market.
The Alliance of Radical Booksellers represents over 50 sellers across the UK and champions literature informed by socialist, anarchist, environmental, feminist or anti-racist concerns. Its goal is to share knowledge and ignite change amongst readers.
Alongside the Little Rebel Awards, now run by Letterbox Library and the Housmans Bookshop, the Alliance of Radical Booksellers also runs the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing for adult non-fiction.
2024 Winner
The 2024 Little Rebels Award winner is The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison by J.T. Williams, illustrated by Simone Douglas. The book is the second in the Lizzie and Belle middle-grade detective series and is set against the backdrop of British Black History. Twelve-year-olds Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle are from different worlds – one lives in her dad’s tea shop in Westminster, and the other, an heiress, lives in a grand house in Kenwood. They both share a love of solving mysteries and surely, no case is too tough for them. It’s the summer of 1777, and a very important painting has been stolen! Can these two young sleuths trust anyone with a mysterious organisation threatening their closest friends and family?
J.T. Williams is an author and educator specialising in Black British history. Her debut children's book, The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger, was published in 2022.