Child novelist, 12, champions minority characters

Hephzibah wrote a book with a black lead character after complaining her local library lacked novels with protagonists of different backgrounds

A girl who felt there were not enough books with lead characters from minority backgrounds decided to write her own novel.

Bookworm Hephzibah Akinwale published Chronicles of The Time Keepers: Whisked Away aged 10, about the adventures of a black girl called Hephzibah.

Now aged 12, she said the inspiration for writing the book came from her mother, who told her "instead of complaining, I should make a change".

Hephzibah, from Ely in Cambridgeshire, is a finalist in the young hero category of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Make a Difference Awards 2025.

She plans out her books in advance, types them up and then her mother helps with editing before a professional editor gets involved, she said

Hephzibah said she had always loved going to her local library, but when she was about eight years old, she became disappointed she did not see enough "books that have characters of minorities; characters of different backgrounds".

"Because inside, black, Asian or ethnic minority people are not any different to anyone else and it's just annoying that we're not seen as equals," she said.

Luckily, she had always loved to write, scribbling ideas in notebooks, so she had a starting point for her first book.

"I decided that the [lead] should be a black girl, just to show others that anyone can be the main character, and I decided to name her Hephzibah because it's not a very common name."

The 58,000-word novel tells the story of a girl who is whisked way to a futuristic world where she attends the Wild Intelligence Academy, makes friends - and must stop robots from taking over.

Hephzibah's second novel continues the adventures and she admitted she would love it if the books inspired a TV series or film.

She also said it was much easier to find books with minority representation in her local library now, adding: "It's amazing how much it has progressed from 2020 to now - but more can still be done."

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson congratulated Hephzibah on writing her book and said: "Local libraries, like Ely Library, are warm safe spaces at the heart of communities where everyone is welcome... and have an enormous range of books to help children and young people to blossom and grow."