All Good Things...

Dear readers, 

After much deliberation, the time has come for me to hang up my blogging boots after four enjoyable years. Some of you may not know that I used to review theatre on this blog and via Critics of Colour collective before switching to my first love of children's books when curtains closed at the start of the pandemic. 

Blogging has been a huge part of my life since my son was born. It has kept me sane as an isolated stay-at-home mum who, while looking after a demanding baby, suffered a physical illness that shattered my body and the prospect of resuming my publishing career. In many ways, blogging has been my saviour: I might even go as far as to say it has nursed me back to, almost, full health, and since I started blogging there have been more highs than I ever would have imagined possible. 

Part of my medicine has been the truly amazing, inspirational people I've met along the way, in person and online: wonderful theatre folk, educators, parents, scholars, authors, illustrators, library staff, publishers, booksellers and publicists. It's meant so much to be connected with you all. Thanks for your support in sharing my ramblings, and for the brilliant chats, intense debates, invites to wonderful events, generous 'coffee' donations and occasional, much-needed opportunities for short-term work. 

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Dapo Adeola who has helped to raise the profile of Black-British books reviewers. There are some others in the Kidlit community who do this too — I see you all — and I am extremely grateful for the shout-outs and retweets which mean our voices are no longer drowned out. Thanks also to the Critics of Colour founders, Bridget Minamore, Sabrina Mahfouz and Georgia Dodsworth, who were the very first people to platform my words, giving me the confidence to see myself as a Black arts critic who needed a space to develop and grow. 

So why am I leaving? There are so many reasons that I won't bore you with but the main ones are:

Firstly, now that I am somewhat healthier and stronger and due to the cost of living crisis that we all face, I need to focus on getting back to paid work. As much as it's a joy and honour to receive shiny new book proofs or published new releases, it doesn't pay our bills or put food on our table. I am ever conscious of the financial strain my partner is under to maintain the family on one income, although he never complains and has supported me in all my endeavours as I support him.  

The second reason is the Jericho Prize. I want to devote more of my spare time to developing and expanding this project and, at present, spending long hours writing book reviews (you all know I like to be thorough) is not allowing this to happen. Raising funds to secure the future of this free-to-access prize is an important priority for me as we move into an exciting phase of offering workshops and mentoring for emerging Black children's writers and maybe even dabble in a bit of publishing. Who knows! I would like to think I can incorporate Black children's book reviews into all of this somehow, but I need time to plan how to achieve this without spreading myself too thin. 

Thirdly, I feel I have achieved a lot of what I set out to do with this blog. I've provided a modest body of nearly 200 closely reviewed Black books for teachers and parents to evaluate for themselves and share with their children and classes. And, although I can't make teachers physically buy any of these books, the Candid Cocoa blog and my Instagram will remain accessible for them to dip into whenever they wish, as will the Black Children's Book Directory. These resources are a starting point for building up more inclusive collections, so there is no reason for anyone to say 'I don't where to look'.  

If you can't find what you need on my blog, there is a growing community of people doing this work that you could tap into. You could look to other reviewers/organisations for info. I can't list everyone here but Picture Book Perfect, Sadé Magazine, KidBooksToLife and Glorious Reads all do awesome work and it's been an utter privilege getting to know the people behind the blogs. And if you want to follow teachers or publishers who value inclusive children's books, you just have to scroll through my Twitter and Insta followers. There are tonnes of brilliant people there. 

For scholarly reflection, Darren Chetty and Karen Sands O'Connor's column 'Beyond the Secret Garden' is a necessary read that offers deep explorations into the state of diversity and inclusion in UK children's literature. I'm so thrilled that a publisher has finally seen sense to publish their important work in book form. The CLPE is also a guiding light on the topic of inclusive children's literature in primary school education, and the work they do is phenomenal. 

Before I go I'd like to mention my blog title Candid Cocoa. I chose the name, years ago, mainly because I'm a total hot chocolate fanatic. But, at the time, it was also a tongue-in-cheek poke at men who rather annoyingly used to call me 'Cocoa Princess'. Recent events have made me think more deeply about the choice of this blog name, but it's complicated, and there's a specific reason why I keep it on principle (those in children's publishing who know, know). So, although the Candid Cocoa blog will remain live, just call me Fabia from here on. 

Raising the profile of Black children's books and Black-British creatives is something I've always been passionate about and will continue to do but, perhaps, in a less all-consuming way. Please continue to reach out to me if you have relevant projects you'd like me to collab on — if I can find the time, I'll try to say 'yes'. For now, I will review or share on social media the few remaining books on my TBR pile. After April, there will be no more posts on this blog, at least for the foreseeable future. 

I hope we can continue to be social-media friends and blether about inclusive children's publishing in the UK. It's not goodbye forever, it's goodbye for now as I figure out a more sustainable way to move forward. 

Fx