Hannah Lee on rappers reactions, Beyonce’s voice, & representation in children's books

It’s to discuss the latter of two books, which Lee joins us at the Southbank Centre this February as part of our Imagine Children’s Festival. And we can’t wait to hear the author talk about the story, and about how it’s main character Shiloh learns to find her own voice.

In fact, we can’t wait so much, that we got in touch with Lee ahead of the festival to talk to her about her work, the importance of representation in children’s books, and to find out who she’d love to have read the audio versions of her stories.

Did you always want to be an author?

I actually always wanted to be a storyteller. I got into telling stories through acting, through school plays and the stage. And because I’ve always loved reading I started to get curious about the stories, about who crafted them, and who drew the pictures, and who did all of the things that put a book together. Only when I got a little bit older did I realise that I could be somebody who did that too. 

But, I always knew I wanted to tell stories, no matter what. That’s always been with me. In fact, in My Hair, two of the characters are two boys who I promised I would put in a story when I was in primary school. I said, ‘Brandon, Michael, I’m going to put you in a story’. And, I did, I kept my promise. So, I’ve always wanted to tell stories.

My Hair is your first book, what inspired you to write it?

The inspiration for My Hair really was the birth of my nephew Austin, and also the birth of my niece Annaka. When Austin was born we’d always read books together and I didn’t see many books that reflected him, or that had children in them that looked like him, and I remembered that when I was younger, I didn’t really have that either. And it really made me sad to think that so much time had passed, and yet there hadn’t been a change. And, I thought of all the other kids that didn’t have books that featured children that looked like them either, and that really inspired me to get the stories that I have inside of me, out there.

‘When my nephew was born we’d read together and I didn’t see many books with children in them that looked like him, and I remembered that when I was younger, I didn’t have that either. It really made me sad to think that so much time had passed, and yet there hadn’t been a change.’

Hannah Lee

So representation in children’s books and the need for children to see themselves in literature is particularly important to you.

It’s super important. I can’t stress enough how amazing it is when you open a book, or when you’re reading, and you see a character that looks like you, that maybe has the same culture as you, that shares things with you. Because books and stories entertain us, they teach us, and we go to them for comfort, and so it’s amazing to be able to look at a character and be like, ‘that character shares things with me’. It’s just incredible, and you feel so seen and I simply can’t stress enough how important it is. Everyone should have that feeling of being seen and recognised in literature, in books, in media, and it’s really important and necessary for your confidence, for your self esteem, to be able to see yourself leading a story, in a story that you are enjoying. 

You’re joining us at Imagine Children’s Festival to talk about your second book, The Rapping Princess. Where did the inspiration for this story come from?

The inspiration came from the fact that I love to rap. It’s something I’ve always loved to do, ever since I was a child, it’s like therapy for me. I just like to rhyme words, and come up with them on the spot, and think about concepts and ways that weave them together. So, I love to freestyle rap, and I also love fairy tales. I’ve always adored fairy tales. So, eventually I thought, well, what if I put the two together? And that’s how The Rapping Princess was born.

‘Books and stories entertain us, they teach us, and we go to them for comfort, so it’s amazing to be able to look at a character and be like, ‘that character shares things with me’. It’s just incredible, and you feel so seen’

Hannah Lee on the importance of representation in children’s books

We’ve noticed that The Rapping Princess has struck a chord with a number of real life rappers too. Which of your famous readers has surprised you the most, or left you the most awestruck? 

I have to say, every single rapper I’ve met has been absolutely amazing, and they’ve all had something really lovely to say about The Rapping Princess. When I met Not3s, he said a lot of the names in the book are names of people in his family, or his friends, so, he really appreciated that. When I met Ghetts, he was like, ‘You wrote this? This is amazing’. And when I met Stormzy, he was like, ‘Wow, this is so sick, I love it so much.’ Because I listen to their music, it’s actually quite surreal to meet them and have them hold something that I’ve made and for them to love that, when I love their art and their music so much. So, they’ve all been really lovely and it’s been a great experience with all of them. 

If you could have anyone reading an audio version of your books, who would you choose? 

I love this question so much. I’ve actually been thinking about this, and there are loads of different people I would choose. One of them is Beyoncé, because although she’s an excellent singer – she’s stellar, she’s extraordinary – I also just really love her speaking voice. She’s got quite a deep, rich cadence to her natural speaking voice, and quite a cool southern accent too. So, I think Beyoncé would be great as a narrator, or as a reader reading the audio books. 

I also think Jamie Foxx. He’s got an amazing musical and comedic talent and he can do different voices, different accents, different impressions, so he’d be really cool to do an audiobook. Also Doja Cat, I think she’s got a great personality and that would really come through in the reading of the books. Oh and maybe Peter Dinklage, because he’s got quite a nice voice as well, I’ve always liked his voice, so he might be a really good option too and.. who else? …John Boyega. He does the narration on the cinema adverts I watch and I really like his voice too, it’s quite rich and I like listening to it, so, I think he’d be great for the audio versions of my books.

‘When I met Ghetts, he was like, ‘You wrote this? This is amazing’’ And when I met Stormzy, he was like, ‘Wow, this is so sick, I love it so much’.’

Hannah Lee on reaction to The Rapping Princess

Lastly, if you could give two tips to any aspiring writers, what would they be? 

My first tip is write a story that you actually like. I know that sounds obvious, but I know there are people who are writing for what they think will sell, or for what will attract an agent, or impress a publisher. Write the story that you actually want to tell, the story that’s on your heart. Don’t think about selling, or any of that other stuff, that will all come, because your story will be great already. So, just write the story that you actually love and really want to tell, not least because you’re going to have to talk about it all the time. The story will keep living and you’ll have to keep talking about it, so, you might as well do it with a story that you actually like.

My second tip would be to live; live your life and take care of yourself. If you have to go on a spa break, do it. If you’re thinking about travelling, do it. If you want to go on a date, do it. Get dressed, whatever it is, live your life, because we as writers, the inspiration that we get for our worlds and our writing, comes from actually living. I think there’s a lot of focus put on just sitting in a dark room with coffee, or, tea or whatever and just writing. Actually, for how we write, the best way to tell a story is to actually live, and go out there and see how people interact; people watch. So, live, that’s the second one.