Disability in Kidlit is seeking a new team member

We’re looking to expand the Disability in Kidlit team, as the website has grown in popularity in recent months and we’re working on exciting new projects.

We’re looking for someone who:

– is disabled

– is familiar with / has an affinity for middle grade and young adult fiction

– is savvy about disability politics/representation and intersectionality

– is communicative and reliable

– is familiar with at least one or more of the following: Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, Goodreads

As we have the “disabled white person” perspective pretty well covered among the existing editors, we have a strong preference for a person of color.

We’re looking for someone to help us with various tasks of running the website: social media, e-mail, website maintenance, publicity, editing, et cetera. If not all of that is up your alley, don’t worry; we’ll be looking together at what kind of tasks would be a good fit for you and how we want to divide things up. The editors work very closely together, and we’ll be spending plenty of time on showing you the ropes.

Based on the work the editors are currently putting in, it’ll likely take up a few hours a week on average. Although we are very understanding and flexible when it comes to downtime, we might not be a good fit if you’re going to be absent very frequently.

Started in 2013, Disability in Kidlit takes a critical look at the depiction of disability in children’s books via critical articles, personal essays, and thoughtful book reviews, all from the perspective of someone with the same disability as is being discussed. All editors and contributors identify as disabled. We strive to be an actively inclusive, welcoming space and will not tolerate racism, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, fatphobia, religious or cultural intolerance, etc.

We’ve grown exponentially over the years and are a trusted resource for people from every corner of the publishing industry, from educators and librarians to grow their collections, to authors and editors to improve the books they work on, to readers to find their next read with a great depiction of disability. If you’re not already familiar with the site, please take your time to look through the site so you have a solid idea of what we do.

We have learned an awful lot over the past two years of working on Disability in Kidlit, and we still learn new things every day; we love how the site has shown us new corners of the industry, introduced us to wonderfully insightful contributors, vastly expanded our knowledge of various disabilities and disability politics, and given us a long, long list of books with awesome depictions of disability to read.

Disability in Kidlit is an all-volunteer effort. Neither the website’s contributors nor its editors get paid, and the site doesn’t make any money; all hosting expenses come out of pocket. (We won’t ask you for any monetary contributions.)

To apply, please email us at team@disabilityinkidlit.com with your name, online presence, reason for your interest in the site, relevant experience, and the nature of your disability. Feel free to include anything else you might feel relevant, or just tell us a little bit about yourself; we’d love to learn more about you!

If you have previous experience with organising, editing, writing, reviewing, publicity, web/graphic design, or (disability) activism, please do mention it. We would also love to know if you belong to other marginalized groups.

For various reasons, we may take a long time to respond or choose, but we can assure you every application will be read and considered with the utmost care.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Note: We will be accepting applications through October 15.