Without Exception

Beth Cox 

Having trained as a primary school teacher at Froebel College, Roehampton, I taught in Hounslow and Vietnam before leaving the profession to pursue a career linked to my other great passion – children’s books.

My educational experience led to a job with independent publisher Child’s Play (International) Ltd. I progressed through the company from an education and sales role to a position as Junior Editor. As part of a small team, I managed a number of projects and assisted on many others. I was highly valued for my keen eye for detail and my ability to provide a new insight on projects. I remained involved with education liaison and marketing, and managed the complete redevelopment of the website. Child’s Play is well known for its innovative novelty books and award-winning baby books so I have an excellent grounding in this area, as well as with traditional picture books. 

As a key part of my role, I was instrumental in ensuring that the books that Child’s Play developed truly reflected our diverse society, helping them to become one of the leading publishers in this field. In 2009 I was involved in a Booktrust seminar at the London Book Fair where I spoke about how publishers can successfully include images of disabled children in their books. I wrote an article on the subject for TAC journal and have also written guidelines for illustrators on all aspects of equality and diversity - gender, heritage and race, culture, disability, sexual orientation and age.

Since going freelance I have worked on a range of projects, including a number of books written for teenagers. I also still work with Child's Play as a freelance editor and inclusion consultant. On top of editorial work, I have co-founded Inclusive Minds, a collective to encourage and promote diverse, inclusive, accessible and equal books for children.

As well as my passion for diversity and equality issues, I have a real interest in child development and keep up to date with research in this area. Until recently I worked part-time as a 1:1 teaching assistant for a child with additional needs; this provided me with further valuable first-hand experience.

Prior to going freelance, I spent four months in South America carrying out voluntary work with street children. Whilst volunteering at one particular home, I raised £1000 to purchase essential equipment and clothing. I'm still raising money to pay the salary of a guardian/teacher for the children. To contribute to this project, please visit my JustGiving page.

Training and Conferences Attended