MORDEN, U.K. - Aug. 10, 2020 - The editor Yogesh Patel, who received an MBE for the services to literature in the New Year Honours List 2020, explains, "As per the report Rethinking 'Diversity' in Publishing, there has been a great clamour about the lack of diversity in literature. Some who have failed us have been named. They still continue by ignoring those who are genuinely working to improve things where they have failed.

"I generally face great apathy from the establishment, when I promote the Indian diaspora writers and poets. Examination boards also need to look beyond obvious. Daljit Nagra explains it better."

"Edexcel," insists poet Yogesh Patel MBE, "has stood out as an exemplary and sincere body against the culprits named in the report who sadly still would not report this excellent anthology! Edexcel did not work in a response to the said report; they have been working with me long before the report came out to improve things to negate what Nagra has mentioned."

So what is it, which is so unique, that has happed? After the rigorous work with Edexcel, the prepared anthology was scrutinised. So impressed was the team led by Katy Lewis, Head of English, Drama and Languages, at Edexcel, that they have now approved it not only for GCSE but also for A-Level English Literature and A-Level English Language. "This is exemplary, and we must celebrate Edexcel's positive action in a belief that there are many out there who would go the extra mile to improve diversity and just not talk big and then block the work like mine,' adds Yogesh. "My foreword in this anthology discusses the premise and deliberations more aptly, and there is plenty there to write your story for reporting. I hope the media will talk to these poets and the poems to relate to everyday experiences they face and take courage to negate a systematic apathy prevailing."

The collection is edited by Yogesh Patel and apart from Steven O'Brien and Sarah Wardle, features many poets from the South-Asian diaspora.

Without the help of good people, the Word Masala Foundation's task will remain impossible.

The following links are active now for teachers, students and to anyone who wants to study diversity in literature with a wider choice.

Its cover in itself is a story for reporting: It plays with the metaphor of colour-blindness. While it is serious about the colour vision test, it also creates a powerful message.

Edexcel links:

https://tinyurl.com/NC-anthology

https://tinyurl.com/A-Lev-Lit-Anthology

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Yogesh Patel MBE