A collection of books and illustrations used within the works of one of the UK’s most celebrated Black authors has opened in a Norfolk seaside town.
The British Library has loaned its Malorie Blackman collection to the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.
Blackman, who was Children’s Laureate from 2013 to 2015, wrote children’s and young adult classics including the Noughts and Crosses series and Thief, saying she began writing because she had felt unrepresented in literature as a child.
Natalie Fairweather, exhibitions officer for Norfolk Museums Service, said there were many conditions attached to the loan but she said it was worth the effort to host a nationally-important collection.
Ms Fairweather said the exhibition highlights Blackman’s struggle to break through prejudice with publishers to get stories representing the Black community into the mainstream.
She said: “It’s a really important and beautiful touring exhibition from the British Library, and we have worked really closely with them to bring Malorie’s story to Yarmouth.
“She’s a woman who fought against prejudices in her childhood. She really wanted to see herself in literature; she didn’t see herself in a lot of the stories she had as a child.
“She worked really hard with Black British publishers, persevered and eventually got her stories out there.
“She’s got 70 books out now and she’s a household name, OBE, winner of the Children’s Laureate medal in 2013, she’s a really important character and it’s important to bring her story to Yarmouth.”
Ms Fairweather said visitors will notice the exhibition is dimly lit because the works on paper are sensitive to light.
That means visitors will be offered torches to help illuminate texts so they can read them without causing damage to the paper or print.
“We have to keep it dark because it’s work on paper,” she added.
“We don’t want the light to damage it so we have little torches available so you [visitors] can read labels and spotlight on things you can’t see.
“It’s really important that the collections and big exhibitions from the London institutions come out to these places. Not everybody has the ability to go down to London.”
The exhibition, Malorie Blackman: The Power of Stories, is open at the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth until Sunday 9 February 2025. There is an entry charge to the museum which allows access to the collection.
