Stakeholder interviews
As part of our study of the impact of the recent spate of book bans and challenges on the children's book industry, each student conducted an interview with a stakeholder in the industry. The results of those interviews are below.
Interview with Josiane Polidori, IBBY Canada
By Hailey Marchand
Josiane Polidori is the 2nd vice-president of IBBY Canada, the Canadian chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People, and Scientific Committee Co-Chair for the 2026 IBBY Congress, to be held in Ottawa in August 2026. With over 40 years of experience in publishing and children’s literature, Josiane was the Head of the Children’s Literature Collection at Library and Archives Canada for nearly 20 years, and she has served on numerous committees for children’s book awards, including IBBY’s Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award. In this interview, Josiane discusses IBBY’s mission to bring children and books together. She highlights the importance of keeping information accessible to children. She also describes the unique power of picturebooks to promote empathy and foster connection.
To learn more about IBBY, visit IBBY Canada at https://www.ibby-canada.org/
This interview has been edited for style and clarity. Click the link below to access the transcript and other information.
Interview with Uma Krishnaswami, author
By Sabrina Beaton
For this interview, I spoke with author Uma Krishnaswami. Uma has been publishing for 37 years, but she has been a lifelong writer. Growing up in India and then moving first to the United States and then Canada, Uma noticed the lack of multicultural children’s literature and set out to fix this through her own writing. In this interview we discussed picturebooks, activism in children’s books, and censorship. Uma also describes a time when one of her own books was challenged.
A main takeaway from this interview is that children’s stories must be honest and neither censored nor forced. “Children’s literature is fearless,” Uma states: it is inherently activist. That said, Uma also cautions about writers pushing their own agenda on children. Authors must follow the logic of the story, rather than their feelings about a situation. At the same time, Uma also notes that every writer reflects the space they’re in and every book will carry an implicit political message. Uma ends by discussing the challenges of navigating a tense political climate while continuing to offer hope to future generations.
More information about Uma can be found on her website: https://www.umakrishnaswami.com/
You can listen to the interview below:
To access the transcript and other information, click the link below:
Interview with staff at Singing Pebble Books
By Ashley Tenn
An interview with booksellers Laura and Sam at Singing Pebble Books in Ottawa, Ontario. This interview is a discussion about bookselling at an independent bookstore and what roadblocks they encounter. Singing Pebble Books is a “whole-body, mind and spirit” bookstore that is interested in inclusivity and diversity as part of its mission. We discuss the various ways of acquiring and discovering new and lesser-known books, especially books that might be considered controversial or boundary-pushing, and how bookselling differs between independent bookstores and large chain bookstores. We talk about how the demographics of a community sets the tone of a bookstore, including how the staff confront challenges to their inventory.
For more information about Singing Pebble, go to their website: https://www.singingpebblebooks.ca/
You can listen to the interview below:
Interview with Amanda West-Lewis, author
By Brooklyn Wilkins
An interview with author, play director, and calligrapher Amanda West Lewis. The interview covers Lewis's creative process in regards to her works with children. As someone who works so closely with youth in several creative avenues, she has spent a lot of time listening and learning from those who society so often believes it is them who have to learn and listen from us — Lewis believes otherwise. In this interview, Wilkins and Lewis venture into the conversations around banned children's literature, whether it protects or isolates them, and what the consequences of sheltering a child from a more diverse and open reality might look like when they eventually learn about the rest of the world. Finally, the two discuss how children handle the more difficult social topics often covered by these challenged books, and what questions arise from curious and playful minds.
For more information about Amanda, go to her website: https://www.amandawestlewis.com/
You can listen to the interview below: