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About Storymix

The Multi Award-Winning Inclusive Fiction Studio
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Storymix creates original and high-concept series for children and teenagers with inclusive casts of characters. It was founded in 2019 by entrepreneur, editor, screenwriter and author Jasmine Richards, who is passionate about creating heroes for every child and creating stories where every child gets to be the hero. Storymix offers a springboard to racially-minoritized creators, and incubates talent by working collaboratively to produce fiction for children and teenagers to be sold directly to publishers.

Since Storymix’s launch in 2019, publishers have sold over 400,000 copies of titles starring our inclusive casts of characters, fantastic worlds and thrilling concepts. In 2021, Storymix won the Precious Awards Creative Business of the Year Award and in 2022 Storymix also won the FutureBook Start-up of the Year Award. In 2023, middle grade fiction title The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries written by J.T. Williams and published by Farshore was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and won The Week Junior Award and Little Rebels Award in 2024. Fablehouse by E.L Norry was nominated for the Carnegie Award

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At Storymix, we help publishers meaningfully increase the number of inclusive titles they publish each year. Our stories allow young readers from racially-minoritised backgrounds to see themselves in books.
Jasmine Richards
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our story

Jasmine Richards, founder of Storymix

Jasmine has over 18 years experience in commissioning and editing fiction for children and teenagers. She started her career at Penguin and then worked as an editor for several years at fiction packager Working Partners where she developed concept proposals, and wrote storylines for many successful series including Beast Quest and Rainbow Magic. She later co-founded a writers development business called Book Bound and went on to set up and run the Creative Kitchen at Oxford University Press Children’s, where she worked with writers, illustrators, editors and designers to create commercial and compelling series fiction. Jasmine is also the author of over 15 books for children and has been a screenwriter on both Disney's PJ Masks and BBC's Jo Jo and Gran Gran. In 2023 Jasmine was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards.

Our Story
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In 2018, Jasmine struggled to find chapter books with characters that looked like her 5 year son. She decided that she would use her background  as an editor, writer, IP developer and entrepreneur to create a fiction production company that would change this. The idea for Storymix was born.

Within its first few years Storymix’s team has grown significantly and is made up of passionate and talented editors, storyliners, creatives and marketeers who help to deliver on its mission statement of inclusion, representation and entertainment. Storymix has sold 15 fiction series to publishers so far and has had 26 titles published, with many more in the works.

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Meet the Team

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Sara Grant

Talent Development Consultant

Writer, editor, lecturer and mentor Sara Grant consults part-time as Storymix’s talent manager. Dark Parties, her first YA novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Publishers in the US, UK and Europe, including Scholastic, Little Brown and Orion, have published ten of Sara’s books for children/teens. She’s taught master’s courses on writing for children/teens at Goldsmiths University and the University of Winchester. She co-founded Undiscovered Voices – which has launched the writing careers of more than a hundred authors.

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Simran Kaur Sandhu

Editorial Consultant

Simran (she/they) is a collaborative and creative editor who has worked with Big Five and independent publishers, agents, editors and authors at every stage of their writing journey across her 8 year career specialising in Middle Grade and Young Adult literature. After studying English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick she began her editorial career at Macmillan Children's Books where she found her passion for helping underrepresented writers tell accessible, all-encompassing, world-expanding stories that children and teens can discover themselves with. When she's not working, Simran can be found baking terrible sourdough, forcing her friends into nostalgia-themed film nights and helping run things at Fat Liberation London.

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Sinead Gosai

PR & Marketing Consultant

Sinéad Gosai is a dynamic and creative PR Consultant with 18 years’ experience working in the media, not-for-profit and publishing industries. She has developed press strategies for international authors and bestsellers, created publicity campaigns for beloved children’s book creators, and managed busy press offices and teams across multiple organisations. At Storymix, Sinéad is in charge of publicity/marketing, author care and publisher relations.

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Ashley Thorpe

Senior Editor

Ashley’s role involves developing storylines and characters, writer outreach, and editing on Storymix projects. He’s worked across children’s fiction, and academic and educational publishing over a 15-year career. Ashley is also a fiction writer, shortlisted for Penguin Random House’s Write Now programme in 2017. His debut middle grade novel is expected in 2024. His favourite children’s book is currently Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas.

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Stephanie King

Development Editorial Consultant

Stephanie is a dedicated editor with an approach that is professional and deeply author-focused. She studied English Literature at UCL, before embarking on a career in children's brand licensing, developing brand identities and copywriting. Stephanie spent 15 years at Usborne where she commissioned and edited an eclectic range of books for 7+ to YA. She is passionate about finding and nurturing talented children’s writers of colour, and committed to ensuring all children see themselves reflected in the books they love.

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Wendy Shakespeare

Editorial Management Consultant

Wendy Shakespeare worked at Puffin Books for the past sixteen years, where she was the Senior Editorial Manager, working with authors such as Malorie Blackman, Tom Fletcher, Adam Kay and Jill Murphy. She’s currently the schedule manager for Storymix, and firmly believes that all children should see themselves represented in the books they read. She loves fantasy books and her favourite author is Diana Wynne Jones.

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Irem Ozpullukcu

Editorial & Operations Assistant

After splitting her youth between London and Eskişehir, Irem read Law at Queen Mary, University of London. She joined Storymix via the Kickstart scheme in 2022 and has worked with them since. As Editorial and Operations Assistant, Irem manages administrative tasks and supports the editorial team across the Storymix list. Irem is the resident YA expert and writes fiction in her spare time.

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Clare Whitston

Storyliner and Editorial Consultant

Clare is a freelance editor with over twenty years’ experience in the children’s books publishing industry. As Senior Commissioning Editor at Oxford University Press, she was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award twice and shortlisted once. As a freelance editor, Clare works with a wide variety of children’s publishers such as Puffin, Hachette and Quarto. Clare specialises in helping publishers and writers create storylines, characters and worlds for new book ideas.

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Reyhana Ismail

Design Consultant

Reyhana is a designer and illustrator from Lancashire, UK, who works in children’s publishing and is represented by The Bright Agency. She particularly enjoys working with companies that encourage a love of reading through representation and inclusion, so considers it a wonderful opportunity to have been working with Storymix on a range of design projects. When she’s not working, Reyhana can be found reading historical fiction, baking beautiful cakes, or attempting to keep her garden in bloom.

prizes and awards

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The British Book Awards 2023 Logo
Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2023
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Get Involved

 We’re always looking for writers and illustrators to breathe life into a Storymix series! Find out more and how to apply
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