Girl, 11, pens book with main character who has vitiligo to champion inclusivity

An 11-year-old has written a book featuring a main character who has vitiligo to encourage young people to “embrace” what makes them unique and champion inclusivity.

Tiana Akoh-Arrey, a student at Boughton Leigh Junior School who lives in Rugby, Warwickshire, has penned her second book, which is called Difriendsity.

The story champions a diverse group of friends, including main character Carla who has vitiligo, Chris who uses a wheelchair and Lisa who is neurodiverse, who are working together for a school poster competition.

Tiana said the book’s name was a way of highlighting and celebrating the diversity often found in friendship groups.

“The book is not only about how people can look different but also how people can think differently as well,” she told the PA news agency.

“It doesn’t matter how you look or how different you may be, you can still be friends, you can still love each other, you can still embrace each other.

“I added all these characters with different conditions to make people aware of them, so it is also educational for children, for teenagers and anyone who reads it.”

She juggled writing the book alongside studying for 11+ exams and moving homes and said it took months to plan, but felt worth it to see the characters come to life.

“Creating the characters was my favourite thing as it is just so interesting to see how they turned out and coming up with their stories, what they will look like, their movements, what they will get up to,” she added.

Tiana wrote her first book called My Afro: Twin Best Friends, aimed at celebrating her natural hair texture, at the age of seven.

Many young girls sent her messages thanking her for giving them the confidence to embrace their natural hair following its release.

A lot of children have stopped reading and gotten into electronics so I think it's really important to give them the tools to write because it is really fun

“We had lots of young black girls sending us messages saying thank you and my book really helped them and I was really happy that I managed to get people to come out of their shell and just be more confident in their heritage or their hair or their skin colour because that was the main audience for the story,” she added.

“A lot of people also asked how they can start writing their own books and I have had teachers ask if I can give tips and tricks to younger years.”

With World Book Day having been on March 6, Tiana said it is important young authors are given the creative tools and encouragement to pursue writing.

“A lot of children have stopped reading and gotten into electronics so I think it’s really important to give them the tools to write because it is really fun,” she said.

“Once you get into it, it’s almost as if you can’t stop.

“I feel like if they get to experience that, they might change their minds about not reading as much and might be inspired to start writing their own stories.”

Dorothy Akoh-Arrey, Tiana’s mother, said she is “so proud” of her daughter for putting positivity into the world through her work.

“It’s incredibly inspiring because when Tiana did her first book, we sort of became accidental publishers and were so grateful to Conscious Dreams Publishing and Daniella Blechner who helped make Tiana’s book a reality,” the 42-year-old, who works in technology transformation consultancy, told PA.

“The book did great. She has had sponsorship from the Kelly Clarkson show and has been featured in prime TV interviews worldwide, making us understand the impact of powerful positive messages through writing.

“I also think she’s impacting a world of children like herself with the messages in her books and I’m so proud of her for that.”

Tiana’s book is being distributed globally on Amazon.