An eight-year-old girl who couldn't find any books with characters that looked like her has decided to write them herself.
Tiana Akoh-Arrey, from South East London, penned her first novel last year - and now hopes she will inspire other kids to do the same as she approaches her fourth.
Her debut My Afro: Twin Best Friends tells the story her and her best friend who had the same type of hair as her "while everyone else has straight, silky or curly hair".
The prolific young author's efforts come amid calls for better black representation and more "identity-affirming" characters in children's literature.
Speaking during Black History Month, which runs this October, Tiana said: "I wanted to show that people who have my type of hair have challenges and sometimes find it hard to love their hair texture plus all the struggle of making it look beautiful."
She first entered a writing programme called Mrs Wordsmith in Year One, which gave her the confidence to start writing her own "little books".
After contacting around a dozen traditional publishers to either no response or "it's not what we’re looking for'", Tiana's mum Dorothy, 39, then contacted Conscious Dreams Publishing, who accepted the book.
It ended up selling more than 700 copies to fans across the globe, with many of them saying her book inspired them to wear their natural afro hair to school.
"I've had a lot of comments on social media and also little girls all around the world have been showing pictures of my book saying that they love it and feel empowered to wear their afro hair to school, so that makes me really happy", she said.
Daniella Blechner, 42, from West Norwood, South London, the founder of Conscious Dreams Publishing, said she started the project as a "labour of love" while working full-time as a teacher by connecting writers to editors, typesetters and illustrators, and mentoring them through the process of publishing.
She added that the publishing industry is predominantly "white, middle-class men and women" with a lack of "diversity from the bottom up", and needs to change. "While we’re waiting for that change to happen, we’re here making our own change, but it is not happening fast enough in mainstream publishing", she said.
Tiana has now published three children's books, and is hoping to publish three more - one of which she was inspired to write after the death of her father, Cornelius Yearwood, aged 78.
The books feature a central young black female character called Nzingha and her diverse group of friends as they explore themes including friendship, kindness, identity and loss.
Despite being "surprised at first" that her first book was published because of her age, Tiana now says she wants other young girls to find the courage to "follow their passion".
"Follow your passion and just use your imagination as something that can help you in life because you never know where you can get in life, even if you are a child", she said. "More importantly… love yourself and be accepting of others – we’re all unique."
