Author and poet Jessica Wilson, whose 2020 book Sofia the Dreamer and Her Magical Afro is both a history and celebration of natural hairstyles

THE stories we grow up with shape how we see the world, but are not always an accurate reflection of it.

Popular children’s book characters have historically been predominantly white, and while this problem has definitely not been solved, there is a new generation of children’s storytellers today writing the books – and protagonists – that they were missing when they grew up.

Among them is award-winning author and poet Jessica Wilson, whose 2020 book Sofia the Dreamer and Her Magical Afro is both a history and celebration of natural hairstyles.

Ms Wilson told the Tribune: “Representation, for me, is primarily for Black children who need to see themselves in books and feel powerful discovering somebody who looks just like them is mirrored in the pages.

“But, moreover, honestly, everyone needs to see Black people in books. All children should see marginalised and minoritised groups are in fact central to culture, history and contemporary life.

“We belong in the imaginative landscape. We belong in fantasy and fairy tales and funny stories and love stories, not only in books about racism, slavery or struggle.

“I would’ve benefited from books like my own and hope they encourage self-love, curiosity and a quest for new knowledge in my readers.

“I want children to come away with a sense of possibility – of their own, and also of the infinite possibilities the world offers.”

Ms Wilson, who moved to Camden in her early teens and is running two upcoming workshops for children at Swiss Cottage Library, told how there wasn’t quite today’s celebration of Afro hair when she was writing Sofia the Dreamer six years ago.

“There’s been a real shift towards encouraging Black children to love their natural hair, and I think that’s wonderful, but at the time there was still more of a lingering feeling that Afro hair was something to be treated as a problem, to tame, straighten, diminish or make more acceptable,” she said.

“For me, Afro hair lends itself to fantasy and often becomes another character in my stories. Coiled hair is gravity-defying. It spirals and springs; it can be sculpted, braided, twisted, locked, wrapped, blown out or become an enormous halo floating around somebody’s head.”

Ms Wilson, who often writes in the genre of magical realism – “where the everyday and extraordinary coexist” – explained that she didn’t “research” her book in the traditional sense. Instead, she told the Tribune, it “came to me almost the way you remember a song”.

She added: “A lot of its history and imagery was already part of my consciousness: the Black Panthers and the Afro as a symbol of Black pride, Rastafari and the spiritual and cultural significance of locs, ancestors and how canerows carried seeds or grains or how the styles formed maps and escape routes.”

It is not only children’s publishing, but education at large that must do better to teach young people about British history and colonialism, Ms Wilson added.

“At school, we were omitted from the curriculum, and that’s part of the reason why I write, to address the gaps, silences and failures of the education system.

“At my school, we were given a photocopy in history class, a diagram showing how enslaved Africans were positioned aboard slave ships, and at GCSE a poetry anthology with one poem written in Caribbean dialect.

“That was all I learned at school about Black people.

“Britain’s history is extraordinarily international because of colonialism, so our schooling shouldn’t stop at the coastline.

“Education needs to be more honest about the past.”
Jessica Wilson will be at Swiss Cottage Library on October 14 for creative workshop “If Afros Could Speak”, for children aged 7+.

• www.jessica-wilson.com