My name is not refugee

ARU graduate Kate Milner talks about the inspiration and background to her picture book, My Name is Not Refugee.

Kate talks about how she made the book as a reaction to the depiction of refugees in mainstream media. She will reflect on discussions with the publisher as they worked out how to make a book on such a difficult subject, and how it is being used in schools.

Before returning to education to study illustration, Kate Milner worked in her local library. Her debut picture book, which started life as her Masters project for the MA Children's Book Illustration at ARU, grew out of a desire to help children understand something of the refugee crisis and empathise with refugee children who might arrive in their school. In 2016, illustrations from My Name is Not Refugee won the V&A Student Illustration Award and the book went on to win the Klaus Flugge prize in 2018. Kate has subsequently published a sequel called It’s a No Money Day, about poverty and the use of food banks.

Event presented as part of Refugee Week.