'I don't find it offensive': Pupil defends Kate Clanchy amid memoir race row

Kate Clanchy's former pupil has defended the writer as she faces accusations of racial and ableist stereotyping in relation to her memoir.

The book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, in which Clanchy recalls her time teaching in UK state schools, sparked online criticism after a reader review highlighted alleged problematic descriptions of children.

Readers flagged passages in which Clanchy described children of colour and autistic students, including phrases like "almond-shaped eyes", "chocolate-coloured skin", and "unselfconsciously odd".

But Shukria Rezaei, one of the pupils Clanchy wrote about, has come to her teacher's defence, saying critics have no right to be offended on her behalf.

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Writing in The Sunday Times, Rezaei claimed she was the girl that Clanchy described as having "almond-shaped eyes".

She wrote: "Critics labelled this description patronising, insulting, offensive, colonialist and racist. This upset me. I am that girl with the almond eyes. I did not find it offensive.

"To be clear, I would not dream of commenting on whether other words and phrases Kate has used are offensive to others, but 'almond eyes' is a term that I have often used in my own poems."

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Rezaei said that Clanchy helped her to find scholarships and aided her with her university applications.

"I owe all of it to Kate, and I am sure she has done the same for many of her students. I feel very privileged to have met her," she added.

She went on to say that people have been quick to criticise Clanchy because "she is a white, privileged writer".

“I know first-hand how cruel and completely unacceptable racism is in any form, and from my experiences it’s not something I’ve ever associated with Kate.

"I just want people to know and hear from a student who has worked with Kate for almost 10 years that my experience with her has impacted my life in so many positive ways it’s unimaginable."

Responding to the criticism, Clanchy wrote in a Twitter thread that she was "grateful" to have the chance to rewrite the memoir, after her publisher Picador said it was considering alterations.

She tweeted: "I know I got many things wrong, and welcome the chance to write better, more lovingly."

The row erupted when Clanchy highlighted on Twitter the fact that she had been accused of racism and falsely claimed that the controversial quotes referenced in online reviews were "all made up".

On Monday, she also said: "It was wrong. I don't really have an excuse, except that I am bereaved and it takes people in different ways.

"I am not a good person. I do try to say that in my book. Not a pure person, not a patient person, no one's saviour. You are right to blame me, and I blame myself."

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