“There is a very strong sense that black characters have been – and continue to be – left off book covers. The problem is widespread,” [Alexandra Strick, manager and co-founder of Inclusive Minds] said. “There have been many high-profile cases of characters actually changing colour completely, so described in the story as black but then appearing Caucasian on the cover. However, very often it’s more subtle than that, with the cover of a book about a non-white character often avoiding featuring a human face at all, or with the character featured in silhouette or even with their face turned away. Sometimes it’s a case of publishers asking that a character is ‘less dark’ almost as though mixed race is acceptable but somehow black skin isn’t.”

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Veronica Roth said Four was mixed race. And that she hated white-washing. Yet she was delighted by the casting of a white actor in the role. Now a white woman's been cast as a character Roth explicitly described as a person of colour. Can you say hypocrisy?

"The stories that hold pride of place in our cultural pantheon are often products of their time. That doesn’t mean that we must hold onto the outdated and insulting elements when we choose to reimagine them... We don’t simply swallow these stories without a second thought: we know the context and we know better now, so we adapt. It’s one thing to be loyal to the source material but that doesn’t mean you must be loyal to every aspect."

Joe Wright wants to cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily in his Peter Pan movie. Down with white-washing! 

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