Inclusive Minds is delighted to be hosting the fourth ‘A Place at the Table’ event. This discussion-based event invites children’s book publishers, booksellers, librarians, teachers and other parties to join together in order to explore ways of being a part of real change, to share good practice, and to commit to specific practical actions on inclusion and diversity.

Taking place on 18 February 2020, the venue has been kindly provided by UCL and will be held in the Torrington Place training centre, 1–19 Torrington Place Fitzrovia, London WC1E 7HB. Organisers Inclusive Minds will also once again be working with key partner the Publishers Association.

Check out the full programme for the day: https://www.inclusiveminds.com/apatt-programme

What's new for 2020?

The children’s book world has made great progress in the past few years in terms of inclusion in children’s books, and the key focus of the 2018 event was celebrating how far we have come. But it’s vital that we aren’t complacent, so for 2020 A Place at the Table has a theme of ‘Unheard Voices’ and will look at some of the areas in which action is most needed, and how to truly embed inclusion within the industry.

Once again, A Place at the Table will take place over a full day. This year, the questions for the roundtable discussions are being developed by our Inclusion Ambassadors, and will give delegates the opportunity to bounce ideas, share concerns, seek out solutions and plan their own next steps.

Following the introduction of the forum sessions last year, where delegates were given the opportunity to speak directly with our Inclusion Ambassadors, we have honed and improved this format for 2020, to create more variety and choice for all those attending. This means more opportunities for attendees to gain valuable insights from our Ambassadors and their lived experience.

In addition to the roundtable discussions and forum, the event will also bring in a range of inspirational speakers who will offer new food for thought, and industry highlights so that all attending will be able to leave with inspiration for the future and practical ways to implement lasting change and embed inclusion in children’s books.

How do the forum sessions work?

The Inclusive Minds forum sessions will be led by our Inclusion Ambassadors, and will start with them introducing themselves and presenting their top tips for authentic representation of characters like them in books. The rest of the session will be dedicated to questions from the attendees.

A mixture of direct consultancy and training, the forum will enable you to pick the brains of our Ambassadors, talk about work in progress, ideas and forthcoming projects, or even gaps in the market, and will allow you to build your knowledge and confidence in a particular facet of diversity.

Following feedback from the last event, we’ve made the forum sessions shorter so that each attendee can attend two 30-minute sessions. After booking, attendees will be able to view the details of Ambassadors involved, and indicate their preferences for their forum groups. Forum groups will be allocated based on when we receive the preference form, so early booking and completion is advised.

Attendees will be notified of their group allocation prior to the event so that they can prepare questions for the day. We also aim to offer an opportunity to submit anonymous questions in advance, as some might find it easier to ask difficult questions in this way.

Find out more about the Inclusion Ambassadors leading the forum sessions: https://www.inclusiveminds.com/apatt-2020-ambassadors

Why book?

Five years on from the first event, A Place at the Table has evolved to ensure it continues to meet the specific needs of the industry at this time. Diversity and inclusion is now firmly on the agenda of the children’s book world, and this event will help you to embed it as a natural part of your role. The involvement of our Inclusion Ambassadors offers a unique opportunity to speak directly to young people about how they are represented in books.

“It was a rare opportunity to be able to speak in an open way about difficult topics in a safe environment.”

Hannah Rolls, Bloomsbury

Outcomes

All participants will be part of a unique movement towards genuine inclusion in the children’s book world. As part of continuing professional development, all delegates will come away with a deeper understanding of particular facets of diversity, as well as practical ideas to move inclusion forward that can be applied in their role within the industry.

Speakers

We are delighted to be joined for our keynote speech by award-winning authors Catherine Johnson and Patrice Lawrence in a unique double-act.

Romani Storyteller, Richard O'Neill, and Dr. Fen Coles, Co-director of Letterbos Library will also be speaking.

Find out more about the speakers: https://www.inclusiveminds.com/apatt-2020-speakers

Tickets

Early Bird Tickets will be available until 11.30pm on December 24th. After that tickets will be on sale at the full price until February 10th.

Everybody In Charter signatories are eligible for a 15% discount, and thanks to our partnership with the Publishers Association we can also offer the same discount to PA members.

We want the event to be accessible to everyone, so please get in touch if the ticket price is prohibitive. We do have a 25% discount code for self-funded artists or others who may find the ticket price inaccessible, but this code is limited and only available on application. We’re offering those who book that chance to ‘pay it forward’ (see below), and also plan to open up some FOC tickets, so that we can allocate these to individuals or small organisations who otherwise would not be able to attend.

Inclusive Minds is an unfunded collective which relies on volunteer time and the support of our friends and partners in the book industry. A Place at the Table is carefully budgeted to ensure that we can pay everyone involved in the event and cover all costs (and coffee!), as well as offer a discount to those for whom the full ticket price would be inaccessible. In the event that APATT does turn a profit, this will go towards the running of Inclusive Minds.

Pay it forward

We’re excited to offer a couple of ways to pay it forward this year.

1) Just by buying a ticket, you will help to pay it forward. Once we have sold 50 tickets, we will open up a limited number of free tickets which individuals or small organisations who would not otherwise be able to attend can apply for.

2) When you buy a ticket, you can choose to buy an additional ticket (5 will be available with a 25% discount off the full price), or give a donation towards the cost of a ticket, that we will allocate to someone who otherwise would not be able to attend. We hope that those who do this will do so altruistically, but we will publicly thank them.

Event run in partnership with:

FAQs

What are my transport/parking options for getting to and from the event?

Closest stations

Warren Street station (7min)
Euston Square station (9min)
Tottenham Court Road station (10min)
Euston station (11min)
Kings Cross St Pancras station (26min)

How can I contact the organiser with any questions?

Email info@inclusiveminds.com

What's the refund policy?

Refunds are available 30 days before the event. Unfortunately Eventbrite does not refund their admin fees (which are included in the ticket price), so any refunds will be minus fees.

Do I have to bring my printed ticket to the event?

No.

Can I update my registration information?

Yes. Log into your account to do so.

Is my registration fee or ticket transferrable?

Yes, please contact us to arrange this.