Changing catalogues: Understanding the influence of the OwnVoices Movement on Canadian children’s book publishers

Since 2015, the OwnVoices Movement has been promoting the idea that stories representing any marginalized communities – people of colour, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, etc. – should be written by authors from the same group. This report will examine the change of several Canadian children’s book publishers before and after the OwnVoices Movement, in particular Penguin Random House Canada (PRHC) Young Readers, the children’s imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. This report is based on a three-month professional placement at PRHC Young Readers, thus it will first start with an introduction of PRHC Young Readers including its history and its current editorial process. Next, the report will review the development of the OwnVoices Movement and significant books that represent the trend. And last, this report will examine the Fall 2016 and Fall 2019 catalogues from PRHC Young Readers, Simon & Schuster Canada Children’s, Orca Book Publisher and Groundwood Books to see if there has been a change of the OwnVoices titles since the movement started. The ratio of OwnVoices books for each catalogue will be calculated and compared. After the comparison, the report will summarize the difference between Fall 2016 catalogues and Fall 2019 catalogues to show any progress after the OwnVoices Movement. After analyzing the research result, the report will conclude with further recommendations for future researchers regarding the OwnVoices Movement study