Independent children’s publishing company Firetree Books is the brainchild of author and publisher Verna Wilkins, who has dedicated her lifetime in publishing to championing diversity and producing multicultural books.
‘In 1987, I set up the publishing company Tamarind and ran it for nearly 25 years,’ said Verna. ‘Tamarind was an enormous emotional investment. I refer to myself as a reluctant publisher because publishing was not on my “to-do” list. I was a lecturer with two young sons, living in Surrey. Then, my first son, nearly five, came home after a few weeks at school with a little booklet he had made. This is Me, it said on the cover. Below that was a large circle. His face. He had coloured it a peachy white.