Hackney author Davina Hamilton: ‘As a minority, issues of identity matter’

‘For me, creating a book with black characters was a no-brainer,’ says author of Riley Can Be Anything

In my 15 years as a journalist, I’ve met plenty of fellow media professionals who longed to write a book. I was no exception.

It had long been one of my ambitions to enter the world of literature, but I had no idea what type of book I wanted to write. It was only as my children – now aged three and four – started to appreciate being read to that the idea of writing a children’s book entered my mind.

As I began to entertain the idea more and more, I thought about the type of story I could tell. I wanted to tell a tale that my children would enjoy, but I also wanted to create something they could relate to. One of the easiest – and most obvious – ways to create a relatable story for my children was to make the characters black.

And so, Riley Can Be Anything was born.