Our Story

Young Lit Stars is Europe’s first publishing company dedicated to young Black authors.

Young Lit Stars (a BlackJAC Media company) is a British publishing house founded by Juliet Coley-Bremmer and her children Yazmin, Bailey and Romeo.


Following his mother's heart attack in 2015, when Romeo was just 7 years old, he attended Play Therapy and was encouraged to keep a journal documenting his thoughts and feelings. He shared this journal with his older siblings who were so moved by it that his sister, Yazmin, suggested turning it into a book so that it could help other children coping with family illness and brother Bailey and mum Juliet conducted research on how to officially publish the title and how to distribute .

Seven years and four awards and 8 self-published books later, Romeo had become a multi-award-winning author, his confidence had skyrocketed and his English grades had seen a marked improvement. With the help of their mother, former Senior Deputy Head Teacher Juliet Coley-Bremmer, the family decided it was time to branch out, share their expertise and provide other young Black children with the opportunity to become authors and write the stories they want to see on bookstore shelves.

And so, Young Lit Stars was born.

Currently, Young Lit Stars has published original works from 60 Black authors aged 16 -and-under in 26 books. With only 7% of the children’s books published in the UK over the last 3 years featuring characters from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background (CLPE, 2019) Young Lit Stars are actively working to ensure that young Black children not only see themselves reflected in the stories they read, but have an active hand in telling these stories too.

 
“If you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it.”
— Beverly Cleary