About the Book

This gloriously illustrated children's book illuminates contemporary mixed race life from the point of view of a child. A much needed volume, The Biracial Butterfly shows the beauty and magic of identity, and celebrates the lives of interracial families today.

About the Author

Lennox Benson was born to a teacher and a doctor in Lagos, Nigeria and migrated to London, UK at the age of two.

Raised by his mother, he was gifted many books and became a keen reader. In primary school, he excelled in art and creative writing, and secretly nurtured a dream to write a book of his own one day.

These creative skills were carried into secondary school where he achieved good grades in Art and English. He then went on to study English, Art & Theatre Studies at A level before securing a place at Queen Mary University to study English Literature.

However, after a term at Queen Mary, he found himself unsure of his place in the world as a young, gay black man and left to find himself. He made a concerted effort to look for Black British mentors who could provide some guidance in making sense of his world.

After some months of networking he garnered the support of a few experienced professionals who were able to guide him through this crucial transition from his late teenage years to early adulthood.

After years of trying his hand with different art mediums including acting and dancing, he returned to writing and began work on his first children’s book The Biracial Butterfly.

What We Need & What You Get

This is book is going to be made, whatever happens. However, with your support we can give the book the love it needs. If we successfully fund this project, we'll be able to provide high quality print copies for backers and send copies to schools and reviewers.

Our aim is to provide a mirror for biracial families, who are so often overlooked in today's publishing landscape, and to provide much needed representation for mixed race children.

In return for supporting us, you get great benefits such as:

• A signed first edition, first printing copy of The Biracial Butterfly
• A shoutout in the backers' section of the book
• Our love and respect
• The warm, fuzzy glow of knowing you're helping to raise visibility for biracial families

The Impact

We're not asking for much. We have a skilled team working on this book, and we're determined to put this book out there. But what we really need is money to help support our promotional and marketing efforts, and that's where you come in. Your money will help us spread the word about the book, to contact schools and libraries to set up readings around the country, and to submit the book to festivals and prizes.

Anyone can publish a book via print on demand, but making your book stand out against the sea of new titles is hard - and that's what we're looking to do.

Risks & Challenges

Between us, we have experience in media production, marketing and publishing. The book has been written and fully illustrated. The images are being converted to a print-ready file as we speak. The cover is being laid out. The book will be heading to print in 2018 - make no mistake about it.

Dog Horn Publishing has been publishing titles for over a decade. Our books are distributed via NBN International, and represented by Inpress Books, the leading sales and marketing agency for independent presses in the UK. Our titles are available via Amazon, Waterstones and most major retailers, and you can request them in your local library too. We also produce ebook editions available on Kindle, Nook, B&N and Overdrive.

But we're a small venture lacking in people power. For £2,500, we can afford to inject some essential PR and marketing time into the mix. What's more, we can produce extra copies of the book to send to key reviewers, librarians and teachers - which will all raise the visibility of the book.

It's our hope that we get Lennox into schools to read from his book, and to get copies into the hands of the children and parents who'd appreciate them most. We want biracial children to feel they can be the protagonists of their own stories and to see their lives reflected in the literature they read.

As with all Indiegogo campaigns, there will be an element of risk. In this case, however, the risks are few. While it's feasible that real-life problems, unexpected technical issues or an accident with printing might delay publication, the hard work has already been done, so the book will be published in one form or another whatever happens.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can't contribute financially, there are other ways you can help. You can:

• Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign.
• Offer to signal boost our PR efforts by sharing and retweeting any press coverage or reviews you see.
• Request a copy of the book from your local library (you can order the book via its ISBN, and the library will source one for you).
• Ask your local school to contact us to arrange an author visit.
• Use the Indiegogo share tools!