Feature Diversit in publishing
been taking part in one-to-one sessions with Rasheed over the past year, and atending a series of workshops with writers Alex Wheatle MBE and Catherine Johnson, and literary agent Julia Churchill, among others. Publishing’s lack of ethnic diversit, both in terms of the writers it publishes and its workforce, is well docu- mented, and schemes to help tackle it are welcomed. Megaphone is funded by Arts Council England and the Publishers Association (Hodder & Stoughton editorial director Melissa Cox also donated £300 to fund one of the writers’ participation) and supported by Writing West Midlands. But, Rasheed says, “I do wish it hadn’t been down to an individual writer to do it although real- istically that’s the situation. It would have been nice if [a scheme like Megaphone] came from an organisation that has bigger scope and resources. It’s frustrating but I do feel that over the past year, there have been more initiatives and movements to atempt [to atain] diver- sit and equalit.”
Making voices heard Megaphone’s writers are also conscious of the lack of authors and characters of colour in UK publishing. Harmer says: “It’s incredibly hard for BAME writers to get published. We have to get past the wall of uncon- scious bias that many agents and publishers have. Most of those working in publishing are white and middle- class, so there’s a tendency for them to stick to what they feel is safe to publish, to choose voices that they relate to. Take a look in any bookshop. There just aren’t enough stories with diverse voices. I’ve struggled to find books that my young boys can read where they can see charac- ters who are represented in their diverse realit.” Jawando says: “In terms of characters when I was growing up, I was a bit aware that there weren’t many diverse characters in books. It makes you think: ‘Can you write a YA book as a writer of colour?’”
Freeth says: “I really didn’t know much about the
It’s incredibly hard for BAME writers to get published. We have to get past the wall of unconscious bias that many agents and publishers have. Most in the industry are white and middle-class, so there’s a tendency to stick to what they feel is safe to publish
market for children’s fiction or Young Adult but over the year, I have read a lot and heard authors from those genres speak. I was reluctant to apply [to Megaphone], as someone implied that there was already a novel by a British Chinese person about a British Chinese teen- ager, so why would the world want another one? But you never hear comments like that about white writers or white characters.” Jawando is working on a YA novel about a boy with PTSD, while Freeth’s novel is about a British Chinese teenager placed into care when her grandfather is diag- nosed with Alzheimer’s. Harmer, who has been signed
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Writers Danielle Jawando left and Joyce Efia Harmer are among the inaugural recipients of Megaphone’s guidance sessions and writing workshops, held with the likes of Alex Wheatle mbe
by literary agent Jo Unwin, is writing a narrative that follows a Virginia slave girl who time-travels and encoun- ters unexpected struggles in modern-day African-Amer- ican life, which cause her to confront her fantasies about freedom and identit.
An open brief Rasheed wanted people “to write what they wanted to write”. She says: “It was important that they didn’t have to write a ‘diverse’ book.” Megaphone’s funding was for one year and, aſter an evaluation period, Rasheed will look to run the programme again. Jawando says: “I think the good thing about Mega- phone is it isn’t just about doing a big, one-off thing... It takes time. It’s over a long time, it nurtures people. That’s a really important aspect. Sometimes it is a lack of confi- dence. People don’t see as many people of colour on the bookshelves and are discouraged. They think: ‘I can’t be published.’ Schemes like Megaphone nurture people and it will hopefully lead to more [similar initiatives].” Megaphone’s success is inextricably linked to the success of its writers in finding agents and geting their manuscripts out into the wider world, but it will also be judged on whether it prompts change across the publish- ing industry. Harmer says: “I really think Megaphone can make a real change... publishers have already sat up and taken notice. Penguin Random House recently launched its WriteNow scheme, looking for new under- represented voices to mentor, and I was lucky enough to be a finalist in that competition. I hope more publishers will do the same. The current five Megaphone partici- pants have developed strong, diverse stories that will be publishable and Megaphone has led the way.” But what does success look like on a wider scale? Rasheed says: “I think it’s really important that writers from ethnic minorit backgrounds are allowed to write whatever they want to write.
“Equalit will be when those from ethnic minorit backgrounds are as mediocre or as midlist as white writ- ers are allowed to be.” ×
Northern Writers’ Awards
Established in 2000 by New Writing North, the awards support works- in-progress by new, emerging and established writers across the North of England. The awards support writers creatively as they develop their work towards publication, as well as helping them to progress professionally and navigate their way through the publishing industry. The awards run with support from Northumbria University and funding from Arts Council England.
14th March 2017
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