Refugee talks with Ele Fountain

Ele Fountain was a children’s editor at Bloomsbury for a number of years, before moving to Ethiopia with her very young family.

She says, ‘Our family move coincided with one of the largest refugee crises in modern history, reflecting in many heart-breaking reports of over-crowded boats sinking off the Mediterranean. But what of the stories that led these people to risk their lives on those boats in the first place? As an editor, I’d spoken to many authors about their inspiration, never thinking I would have any of my own, but now there was a story which wouldn’t let me go. The story I wanted to share was Boy 87.’

Ele is available for signings, readings and eye-opening discussions that make a great introduction to young readers on the topic of today’s refugee crises.