“Diversity can not be added like spice.”
© Nieves Guerra
In this interview for the Frankfurt Kids Conference, Lawrence Schimel, its moderator and childrens book expert, talks about the blind spots of children’s publishing.
You live in Madrid and work internationally: what trends in children’s and young adult literature do you see that are flying under the radar in the DACH region?
While I work across genres and age groups, my focus is more on picture books than Young Adult and it seems that the DACH region is still very reliant on using animal characters in picture books, rather than showing real kids and their families.
As a result, kids often don't see themselves or their friends and classmates fully reflected in the literature they have access to. And children will quickly "normalize" those absences--whose stories are considered worthy of being told and whose have been erased (intentionally or through blindspots) from the cultural production.
What is currently the most common misunderstanding when it comes to diversity in children’s and young adult literature?
The world is diverse, even if publishing programs for young readers often are not- or not enough to reflect the real world that kids live in.
Diversity is not something that can be added to a program like a new flavor or a bit of spice. Instead, it is necessary to analyze what voices are being suppressed and why, and then be proactive in correcting that.
You regularly chair the Kids Conference. Which debate comes up year after year?
Sadly, so many places around the world are experiencing war and violence, as well as suffering from the climate crisis, which means that year after year children are growing up in these hostile environments. One mainstay of the Kids Conference has been how to make sure kids have access to books, in the first place–which is still a problem in almost all countries around the globe-and how these books can both help them understand and make sense of the world they live in and also provide distraction and entertainment.
‘Rewriting the Future’ is the theme of the Kids Conference. How would you sum up what that means to you in one sentence?
We can't wait for some idealized conditions to be met before trying to start working toward the world we would like today's kids (and tomorrow's, too) to grow up in; with "Rewriting the Future" we hope to not just bemoan the current state of things but to offer concrete examples and inspiration for what people across the bookchain can start doing TODAY to lead to that imagined, idealized future.
Which stories are still too often missing today?
As I mentioned above, more than just trying to play catch up and fill in gaps, the publishing industry needs to instead fix the underlying problem of *why* those stories are missing. What institutional or organizational structures led to those stories being overlooked or turned down or not supported internally with marketing and promotional resources if they are bought, etc.
If you could change one thing for children’s and young adult literature until 2027, what would you focus on?
Translators have long been undervalued across the publishing industry (for adults as well as children and young adults) and especially in the current moment, I think it behooves publishers to credit translators on the covers and otherwise highlight their human involvement in bringing books from one culture to another, so consumers don't think the book was translated by a large language model based on stolen material, which readers have rejected in many countries and languages whenever publishers try to cut corners and cut out these vital actors in readers having access to global literatures.
About Lawrence Schimel
Lawrence Schimel is a bilingual (Spanish/English) writer and literary translator based in Madrid. He has published over 130 books in many different genres and for readers of all ages, and his books have been translated into over 60 languages. He regularly chairs the Kids Conference at Frankfurter Buchmesse.
Rewriting the Future: perspectives and networks through the Frankfurter Buchmesse conference for children's and youth media
When: Wed, 07 October 2026, 3.30 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.
Where: Imagination Stage in hall 4.0
Language: English