True stories, by authors including: Elle McNicoll, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, Imani Barbarin, Ilya Kaminsky, Rebekah Taussig, Nina Tame, Ali Abbas & Carly Findlay

James and Lucy Catchpole

We’ve got a new book on the way – not written by us exactly… Owning It might be the first children’s anthology of disabled writers. 22 writers, telling stories from their disabled childhoods.

It’s an idea we had with Jen Campbell – our partner-in-editing for this – and it’s finally happening. Owning It: Our disabled childhoods in our own words is out with Faber & Faber in April 2025.

As disabled children’s publishing people and writers, representation is important to us – for disabled children, and their non-disabled peers. Remember back in 2021? When we made a list of 20 books by disabled authors? (Still our most popular post on this blog by a country mile.) We found lots of gaps when we were researching it, and this was one of them – a middle-grade non-fiction collection. The idea started to take shape around then.

There are names you’ll recognise, I’m sure, especially if you found us through that list, or follow us on Instagram. Quite a few had books on that list – like Elle McNicoll, Christa Couture, Carly Findlay and Rebekah Taussig. Or books out just too late to be included, like Jan Grue and M. Leona Godin. Others might be familiar from social media – like Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, Imani Barbarin and Nina Tame.

All 22 have compelling personal stories, and each author was once a disabled child. Do have a look at the list of names below – there are links to find out more about each writer.

This is middle-grade, so ideal for age 9 and up – right up to adults, honestly. It’s illustrated by Sophie Kamlish – our new client, who many of us watched run in the 2012 London Paralympics as a young teenager.

Here’s a quote we put together for the Bookseller:

"What does a girl losing her eyesight in San Francisco have in common with a boy losing his arms in Baghdad? Disability is as wildly varied as the human body, and manifests in all different walks of life, in different countries and cultures.

"So when we asked our disabled peers to tell us stories from their childhoods, it was the differences that struck us first. But then, as we read through these stories – these memories – we started to see the common threads.

"Despite the diversity of experience, disability solidarity is real and vital and powerful. Many of us editors and contributors to this anthology discovered this only in adulthood. We want new generations of disabled readers to make this wonderful discovery as children. We want to pass on what we’ve learned."

Owning It is open for pre-orders now. If you’d like to pre-order it using our affiliate links – which is always lovely – they’re just below. (Blackwell’s deliver internationally – with delivery included in the price.) But we’ll be thrilled with any pre-orders! As many of you’ll know, they send a powerful message to the publisher – especially with a book like this.

April 2025 edit: an audiobook is also out now – read by the authors, with Lucy, Jen and James filling in for those who couldn’t read their own.

---

Owning it – Our disabled childhoods in our own words

True stories by these 22 disabled authors:

I’ve embedded some of the authors’ Instagram announcements below – do have a browse. These are great writers, with important, funny, and moving stories to tell. We’re thrilled to share them with you.

~ James & Lucy Catchpole

---

Instagram announcements from the authors

---

---

[Image descriptions:

1. Book announcement! Lucy and James – a white disabled couple – sit in their kitchen holding a large postcard with the title ‘Owning It: Our Disabled Childhoods’. Text reads ‘Announcement!’ on cream torn paper. It’s a cosy room with teacups and crockery on shelves. James is wearing a linen shirt and the new brown waistcoat, Lucy is wearing a dark brown cardigan and matching beret – we’re both smiling. We’re holding books by some of the contributors.
2. Quote from the editors.
   Graphic with a burnt orange background. In white text: ‘As disabled children, we didn’t see many people like us in the books we read or the films we watched. And, when we did, we usually wished we hadn’t! If they were the good guys, they were sweet inspirational children whose disability was their ‘superpower’. If they were the bad guys, their disability was part of their evilness – like Captain Hook.
   Which was annoying. And boring…
   This is the book we wish we’d had when we were young.’ This and subsequent images are in the same polaroid frame, on a wooden background.
3. Editors and contributors.
   At the top, text on a paper background reads: ‘A children’s anthology – true stories by disabled authors.’
   A polaroid-style frame has the label ‘Owning It / Our disabled childhoods in our own words / Coming April 2025’ In the frame is a black and white graphic with the title ‘FEATURING’ written at the top, followed by two columns of names:
   James Catchpole, Lucy Catchpole, Jen Campbell, Sophie Kamlish, Elle McNicoll, Rebekah Taussig, Nina Tame, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, Christa Couture, Carly Findlay, Sora J. Kasuga, Ali Abbas, Polly Atkin, Ashley Harris Whaley, Daniel Sluman, Alex Wegman, Jan Grue, Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini, Imani Barbarin, Ilya Kaminsky, Kendra Winchester, Steven Verdile, Eugene Grant and M. Leona Godin.
   The frame carries the same label as the previous image.]

---