Small children are often asked to choose between a gendered binary - 'boy' or 'girl', 'pink' or 'blue'. This colourful picture book smashes these stereotypes and encourages the reader to follow their own way! "Girl or Boy?" What brings you joy? "Pink or blue?" It's up to you. With vibrant illustrations and concise, poetic text, this powerful book teaches young children that there are no limits in what you can do and who you can be. You are unique! Translated from the original Portuguese by award-winning transgender poet Jay Hulme, My Own Way is an important, timely and beautiful celebration of identity, difference, and respect.

An exciting collaboration between Otter-Barry Books and Pop Up Projects, introducing new voices in poetry for 10-14 years old. Rising Stars, sponsored by Arts Council England's Grant for the Arts programme, is a poetry anthology showcasing the work of five debut poets from diverse backgrounds, all aged 25 and under. Black and white illustrations are by final year students from Birmingham City University's illustration course. Joelle Taylor, founder and Artistic Director of SLAMbasadors UK, is acting as a consultant to the project.

This is Jay Hulme's first published collection of poetry. It showcases his unique voice and form of expression. The poems have been carefully selected to chart Jay's journey from growing up in a working-class family in Leicestershire to his feelings and thoughts about school life and his experience as a transgender teenager. As Jay says himself: When it was decided that this collection would be for teenagers I was left with this determination, that this collection wouldn't speak down to anyone, that the world I portrayed within it would be the world we live in, that there would be no attempt to make reality 'appropriate for children'. People seem to forget that teenagers live in the same world as everyone else, and they face the same struggles adults face every day. Teenagers deal with racism and sexism and disability and poverty and so much more that we don't even see. The things that are traditionally seen as inappropriate for young people to see, are so often the same things they experience day to day.

This second collection from trans Christian poet Jay Hulme offers questioning, exploratory poems that look for God’s presence in strange, wilderness places – ancient holy sites like Holy Island, in forests, in old churches with their marble tombs, and - perhaps strangest of all - in the extraordinary lives of the people we call saints. With a leaning into Celtic spirituality, The Vanishing Song will enable readers to sense the holy in the quirky places and people in their lives.

Jay Hulme is an award-winning transgender poet, performer, educator and speaker. In late 2019, his fascination with old church buildings turned into a life-changing encounter with the God he had never believed in, and he was baptised in the Anglican church. In this new poetry collection, Jay details his journey through faith and baptism during an unprecedented world-wide pandemic. As he finds God in the ruined factories and polluted canals of his home city, Jonah is heckled over etymology, angels appear in tube stations, and Jesus sits atop a multi-story car park. Cathedrals are trans, trans people are cathedrals, and amidst it all God reaches out to meet us exactly where we are. Jay's poetry explores belief in the modern world and offers a perspective on queer faith that will appeal not only to Christians, but young members of the LGBT+ community who are interested in faith but unsure of where to start.

A sea-born creature, who never quite belongs, discovers who she really is, in this powerful illustrated song about metamorphosis and finding your true home. Writer Jay Hulme's 'little epic poem' is a tender and uplifting parable about the transgender experience, with breathtaking illustrations by Iranian-British illustrator Sahar Haghgoo. For young readers age 5 and up. Here Be Monsters is part of the 10 Stories to Make a Difference collection: ten original illustrated stories for young readers, all inspired by the theme of Difference. The collection features a mix of well-known and emerging writers and illustrators, giving a platform to untold stories and diverse new voices. Proceeds from sales supports Pop Up's work in deprived schools, marginalised communities, and with talented aspiring and emerging writers and illustrators.