Amelia Kai

Amelia Kai is a social justice activist and children’s author who lives in Galgorm, Northern Ireland. At the age of 9, she moved with her family from southeast London to Strabane, Ballymena, where she was brought up by her black African father and white Irish mother. After noticing a lack of diversity in children’s picture books whilst raising her son and inspired by her own experiences of navigating a mixed-race identity, she wrote and self-published The Little Crayon, illustrated by her friend and graphic designer, Jamie Beard. The story for 3–7-year-olds was “born from love, friendship, and a desire to help children everywhere understand their identity” and digital versions were made freely downloadable on her inclusivity platform, Myidentity NI (https://www.mydentityni.co.uk), which strives “to create safer space through education and representation”. In November 2021, Amelia Kai was one of three women who participated in a discussion panel at the launch event (https://extraordinarywomenni.com/engagement) for the Linen Hall Library’s extraORDINARYwomen project where she spoke of her experiences growing up as mixed-race woman in Northern Ireland, her diagnoses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at the age of 22, and her celebration of self and identity and a desire for the normalisation of diversity.

This online archive consists of The Little Crayon bookmark which Amelia Kai kindly donated to the extraORDINARYwomen project. Amelia also donated a copy of her book which is held within the Linen Hall Library’s collections.