The Guardian view on 25 years of Malorie Blackman's Noughts & Crosses: a love story that changed an industry | Editorial

"Stormzy writes in a new anniversary introduction that reading Noughts & Crosses was the first time that words on a page had gripped me in the same way that a film or TV series had. This is exactly the message behind the government-backed National Year of Reading campaign, for which Blackman is an ambassador."

"Noughts & Crosses, set in a dystopian Britain (Albion), in which racial hierarchies are reversed, this story of star-crossed lovers was one of the first young adult novels to tackle racism and class directly in the UK. It was written in response to the death of Stephen Lawrence; 20 years later, Endgame, the last in the series, was finished as the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd."

"Blackman started writing after finding only one children's book with a Black protagonist in a London bookshop in the 1980s. The situation isn't much better today. In fact, after a flurry of commissioning in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, representation has taken an alarming backward step in the past two years."

Malorie Blackman, a former children's laureate, is celebrated in music by Stormzy and Tinie Tempah. Her novel Noughts & Crosses, set in a dystopian Britain with reversed racial hierarchies, turns 25 this year and remains groundbreaking for directly tackling racism and class in UK young adult literature. Written in response to Stephen Lawrence's death, the series concluded with Endgame during George Floyd's murder. The novel was voted a UK all-time favourite and adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC. Blackman serves as ambassador for the National Year of Reading campaign, addressing concerns about declining youth readership, particularly among boys aged 14-16. She began writing after finding minimal representation of Black protagonists in children's books during the 1980s, a problem persisting today despite recent efforts.

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