Bath Children's Literature Festival is facing criticism after one of its founders, John McLay, emailed authors asking them to delete social media comments criticising the 2026 programme's lack of diversity. The row began when writers commented under an Instagram post accusing the festival of having no authors of colour in its line-up; those comments were later deleted, the original post removed, and comments restricted on subsequent posts, prompting accusations of an attempt to silence legitimate criticism.

Co-founder Gill McLay said the emails, sent by her husband John on a Monday evening, were intended to correct what she called inaccurate claims, noting seven authors of colour feature among almost 100 events in the programme, and that the festival has since apologised for its approach. Authors including Sophie Anderson and Alexandra Sheppard described the emails as threatening, with Sheppard organising an open letter and warning of a "fear of being blacklisted" for criticising powerful industry figures. The dispute reflects wider concerns about representation in children's publishing: Department for Education figures show 38.7% of English school pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, yet the Reflecting Realities survey found only 24% of children's books had main characters from racial minorities, down from 30% in 2022.