Storymix Books by Jasmine Richards

We have a fantastic blog today from Jasmine Richards, founder of Storymix and Storymix Books.

 

 

How it started!

This year has been full of milestones for me, including becoming a trustee at the National Literacy Trust at a pivotal time as we prepare for the National Year of Reading 2026. It is also the year I’ve launched my own publishing house Storymix Books but more on that later! Like all good stories we should start at the beginning, and I should tell you I was a bookworm as a kid.

Being an avid reader as a child didn’t just change my life; it made the life I live now possible. Every opportunity I’ve ever had began with a book. I grew up in council housing in Haringey, with Stroud Green Library just a three-and-a-half-minute run from my front door, even with little legs. That distance mattered. It meant I was in that library constantly. The librarians there were my early guides, quietly helping me find books that stretched my imagination and expanded my world.

At home, my mum read too. Mills & Boon, Danielle Steele, and chunky cookbooks. Seeing her read mattered. It didn’t have to be Dickens. It was the act of reading that counted.

Stories took me from social housing to the University of Oxford, and then to Penguin. I became an author, writing more than twenty books for children and teens including The Unmorrow Curse, a middle-grade fantasy inspired by Norse mythology. Later, I moved into screenwriting, working on shows like PJ Masks and JoJo and Gran Gran.

But it was when my son was five years old and I stood in a bookshop with him that I understood what my purpose was. I could not find a single book that featured a character that looked like him and I knew in that moment that I had to change that.

I founded Storymix in 2019. It is a fiction studio where children of colour take centre stage in stories that span age ranges and genre, and where racially minoritised writers and illustrators can find both opportunity and mentorship. Since our inception, we’ve developed and sold over 18 projects, and we’ve worked with more than seventy creators. Over half a million copies of our titles have been sold across the world. Our mission has stayed simple: to make stories full of joy and adventure and create pathways into publishing for the racially minoritized.

Storymix studio has developed acclaimed series such as The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, Fablehouse, and Aziza’s Secret Fairy Door. Each project represents a different kind of storytelling, but all share the same heartbeat: adventure, joy, and representation.

How it is going!

This year, Storymix Studio has evolved. We’ve taken a big step and launched Storymix Books, our own independent publishing arm and sister company to the studio. Our first title, The Other Father Christmas, is a feel good, festive adventure written by me and Priscilla Mante under the shared pen name Serena Holly, and beautifully illustrated by Shahab Shamshirsaz.

When I first told my children the idea for this book: Santa is retiring and holds a competition to find his replacement, they couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done before. It’s such a simple but joyful concept. Through the story of Mikey Merriman and his Gramps, my co-writer and I wanted to explore family, belonging, and the idea that Christmas magic belongs to everyone.

Launching this book has felt like a homecoming of sorts. It reminds me why I started writing in the first place: to bring a bit of magic into the world, and to make sure every child can see themselves at the heart of it.

If the past few years have taught me anything, it’s that we don’t have to choose between our creative selves. I am an author, a screenwriter, an editor, an entrepreneur, a publisher, and now a trustee. Each role informs the other. Together, they make up a creative life that I am so very grateful for.

I think a lot about the idea of proximity. I was lucky that my local library was within running distance. But proximity isn’t only about geography. It’s about representation and the signals that tell a child they are welcome – that they are invited in. That’s what I want Storymix and Storymix Books to offer: proximity to stories for all children.

 

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.