This Pride Month, we’re shining the spotlight on Justin Davies, author of Haarville and Firebloom. In this special guest post, Justin shares what Pride means to him, and why it’s so important for children’s books to include queer characters.

Justin Davies

Justin Davies spent years flying all over the world as cabin crew before hanging up his wings to focus on writing for children. His first book, Help! I Smell a Monster, won the Fantastic Book Awards in 2021. He is also the author of Whoa! I Spy a Werewolf, and the fantastically fishy mystery adventure novel Haarville. Look out for his latest book, Firebloom, in August 2025. Justin lives with his husband and Sally, their greyhound rescue, in Fife, Scotland.

I’m proud of my gay identity and of being part of the LGBTQ+ community all year round. Pride Month gives us a chance to share our pride and celebrate who we are with everyone. Right now,  LGBTQ+ people worldwide are facing growing threats to hard-won advances, and we’re witnessing pushback on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies on both sides of the Atlantic. So now, more than ever, we need LGBTQ+ visibility.

As a children’s author, one way I can increase this visibility is by including LGBTQ+ characters in my children’s books. It is, after all, my reality. In fact, it’s everyone’s reality. LGBTQ+ people are everywhere. We’re sitting next to you on the bus. We’re flying your plane and driving your train. We help you find the perfect book to read in your bookshops and libraries. We froth the oat milk for your latte and bake the cakes for your tea. We stitch your wounds, polish your teeth, cut your hair and paint your nails. We deliver, marry and bury you. We are your children’s teachers. We are your children’s friends’ parents. We are your children’s friends. We are your children.

We are uncles and aunts and cousins and sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and…

…we are grandparents.

When I started to write my new children’s novel, Firebloom, I decided my main character Tally would have gay dads. But then I had the idea to give her gay grandads instead, because there aren’t nearly enough queer grandparents in children’s novels. There’s also the (sadly) undeniable fact that I’m now old enough to be a grandparent – even more reason to write a story with gay grandparents! So, in Firebloom, Tally is looked after by her Grandad and Mandad. I really enjoyed creating these two characters and I know readers are going to enjoy meeting them!

Ultimately, I want my cast of characters to reflect the people my readers come across every day; if the characters in my fictional world are as diverse, inclusive and fabulous as the characters in my readers’ real worlds, then I’ve achieved that. Happy Pride Month everyone!

Books by Justin Davies

Welcome to Haarville. If you’ve arrived, you’ve survived.

In the murky, misty seaside town of Haarville, something smells fishy, and it isn’t the seafood…

Manx Fearty is about to lose his family’s perpetual device shop to some sinister newcomers. Can Manx and his friends untangle secrets and seaweed to save the Fearty legacy and the town?

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Step ashore for the Firebloom Festival — but there’s only a show if the jellyfish glow…

Tally Smuck is destined to become a Sting Winkler — someone who can communicate with jellyfish. But as visitors flock to her island’s famous festival, there’s no sign of Tally’s vital powers, or the light-and-life-giving sea creatures they’ve come to see…

Can Tally and her friends solve the mystery of the missing jellyfish and stop the island from being plunged into darkness for good?