Sarah Lawrance is the Collection and Exhibitions Director at Seven Stories, where she has played a key role in developing the Centre's unique collection of manuscripts, artwork, archives and books since 2003 and is now part of the organisation's senior management team. She is currently leading Seven Stories’ HLF-funded Collecting Cultures project, which aims to enrich and diversify the museum’s collection. Sarah has worked in the museum and heritage sector since 1990 and is an Associate of the Museums Association. She also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Children's Literature from Roehampton University and is the author of 'Drawn from the Archive - Hidden Histories of Illustration', published by Seven Stories (Oct 2015) in association with Walker Books. 

Rachel Pattinson manages the Vital North Partnership between Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books. Rachel provides administrative, financial and operational support to the Diverse Voices? symposium and its associated events.

Please email Rachel if you have any questions about Diverse Voices?.

Dr Lucy Pearson is Lecturer in Children's Literature at Newcastle University. Lucy works in the field of children's literature, with a special interest in children's publishing and the development of children's literature since the mid twentieth century. Her work is focused around the cultural contexts for reading and the ways in which these shape literature.

Karen Sands-O'Connor is professor of English literature at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and a former Leverhulme Professor at Newcastle University where she worked with Seven Stories staff on issues of diversity. Her recent book, Children's Publishing and Black Britain, 1965-2015 and her weekly blog, The Race to Read, examine how diversity, children's books, and history and culture intersect.

Aishwarya Subramanian is an early career researcher working on space, fantasy, and the British children's literary canon after empire.