I want to help everybody find a voice

Juliet’s son, Romeo, started writing from a young age

WRITING WRONGS

Former schoolteacher JULIET COLEY explains to Linda McTurk why she established a company that helps black children to publish books about characters who look like them

‘O NE per cent of protagonists in children’s books

are black – it’s an absolute disgrace,’ says Juliet Coley, founder of the publishing company BlackJac Media, which produces books written by black children.

Juliet, a former senior deputy head teacher of a secondary school in Tottenham, is determined to address systemic racism by helping black children aged 7 to 13 to become self-published authors. To date, the company has published 12 books, including Jacob’s Day Trip to Jamaica, Cook with Me and

Nanny Hazel and Hey, Black Girl! Several more titles are due for release by the end of the year. Juliet hopes the books will ‘keep the heritage and culture going’.

She believes that ‘it would have a massive effect’ if there was more children’s representation of diverse characters in children’s books.

Juliet says that black people have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented and misrepresented in children’s literature. ‘If you see yourself described in books as somebody that is substandard,’ she tells me, ‘then you grow up to believe that that’s all you can be. Seeing the underrepresentation and the racism, I recognised that I needed to be doing something for young black kids.’

Having taught for more than 20 years, Juliet believes in the power of education to change the lives of young people. But her reasons for starting her publishing company stemmed from a series of difficult events in her personal life.

In 2013, while driving back from the hairdressers, Juliet suddenly felt a pain in

Juliet Coley wants to ‘help everybody find a voice’

her left arm and started vomiting. But ‘That was how BlackJac Media was as she had no previous history of born,’ Juliet says. ‘We published the ill health, it took her days to realise book, but just for him. The publishing what had happened. company began with my son writing

‘I went into A&E and the doctor said I’d books to keep him motivated, to boost had a heart attack. I was gobsmacked,’ his self-esteem and for his confidence. she recalls. ‘They did an angiogram and Then somebody saw one of them told me that four of my arteries were and entered it into a competition. The blocked and I book Life without My needed quadruple bypass heart The company Mummy? award.’ won an surgery. I thought I was going to die. But began with my son After the success of the book, parents began my mind was more on my kids than myself.’ writing to boost his self-esteem to ask Juliet to help their own children become self-published authors.

The youngest Since then, she has of Juliet’s three worked with 12 young children, Romeo, was only five years old writers. Juliet also still made time to help at the time of Juliet’s heart attack. He her son publish more books. Recently he found it hard to accept that his mother wrote a book called Cancer, Mummy and was ill. Me. In it he describes the difficult time

‘My little boy wanted to stay at his that his family experienced when Juliet grandma’s,’ Juliet explains. ‘He didn’t was diagnosed with bowel cancer and want to come home, because he thought had to undergo chemotherapy. I was going to die. He didn’t want to come Even in the middle of the coronavirus home, and find me dead in the bed.’ pandemic, Juliet has not let her passion

Juliet referred Romeo to play therapy for helping children dwindle. Later this sessions to help him to come to terms year, BlackJac Media plans to publish with his feelings. After the sessions, a book called Our Roots, detailing the he would write down his thoughts and profiles of grandparents interviewed by feelings. His older sister thought it would their grandchildren through video chat be a good idea to put his words into a during lockdown. book. So she helped him to write it, and Juliet says she is determined to ‘help Juliet got it published. everybody find a voice’, and is motivated

by her Christian faith – something that has also supported her through her own health concerns.

‘Up until the age of 40 I hadn’t even broken my leg,’ she says. ‘But from 40 plus, it has been trial after trial. I’ve had a heart attack, cancer, pneumonia, diabetes, Crohn’s disease.’

Juliet says that at one point she ‘had to have a really good conversation with God, asking, “are you having a laugh?”

‘But I don’t think I’d be as strong if I hadn’t gone through the things that I have,’ she says. ‘And it’s made my family stronger. It is a struggle, but it’s a struggle that I’m not in by myself. I know God as my friend.’