A statement from Picador regarding Kate Clanchy's Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me

Statement published 11 August 2021:

Kate Clanchy is extremely sorry for the upset caused by her book and is grateful for the insights of writers and communities affected by it; she welcomes the opportunity to update Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me and will work with Picador to do so. Picador proposes to consult an appropriate group of specialist readers about the update and hopes to release a new edition in the autumn.

To tackle the wider issues this experience has taught us about, we at Picador and Pan Macmillan are reviewing our editorial processes and considering how we implement more rigour in our assessment of manuscripts, including guidance for commissioning sensitivity reads, and more.

Statement published 9 August 2021:

We have been listening to the responses to what we said about Kate Clanchy’s Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me and we want to apologise profoundly for the hurt we have caused, the emotional anguish experienced by many of you who took the time to engage with the text, and to hold us to account.

We realise our response was too slow. We vigorously condemn the despicable online bullying of many of those who have spoken out. This has no place in our community.

We understand that readers wish to know specifically what will be done about the book, we’re actively working on this now and we will communicate this as soon as possible. 

Previous statement published 6 August 2021:

Picador published Kate Clanchy’s Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me in 2019. We have read and understood readers’ responses to the book. We are grateful for the insights that this exchange has given us and we continue as a company to strive to become ever more inclusive. To do this we will continue to listen and learn. We are discussing the best way to update the book for future editions.