Diversity needed at the top to sustain change
Publisher Sonya McGilchrist says there is a need for diverse talent at the top to ensure inclusion is built into the strategic and creative decision-making process in publishing, and points to a model of success being created by smaller presses.
Sonya McGilchrist (sonya@dinosaurbooks.
co.uk @DinosaurBooksCo) is owner of Dinosaur Books Ltd.
www.dinosaurbooks.co.uk
T
he publishing industry is making progress – the recent establishment of the We Need Diverse
Books UK campaign is evidence of growing awareness and a determination to do things diff erently.
But as the industry attempts to become more diverse and inclusive, I think it’s important to consider what inclusion truly means and what more needs to be done, particularly to overcome structural issues that still prevent progress.
It’s great to see the large
established publishing houses setting up diverse imprints and attempting to employ more than a handful of BAME and other marginalised communities. It’s also great that already established industry fi gures are setting up independent publishing companies which set out to be inclusive and diverse in their output.
But to achieve true diversity in publishing, we also need to source books from suppliers where BAME people are in charge/in senior editorial roles. And that will often mean sourcing from the smaller and start up suppliers. In due course, (fi ve-10 years?) the large companies may have diverse senior teams – it is to be hoped
that those young recruits now being taken on will rise quickly through the ranks. But currently, there are very few senior BAME fi gures in corporate children’s publishing. Jo Unwin, the literary agent, made a powerful point on Twitter as she described attending a strategy meeting about inclusivity and diversity which had just one black person in the room
– this woman, (who was not senior), was not asked once for her opinion.
Even some of the excellent presses that have set out to focus on diversity are not owned/led by BAME executives. They are from the industry as it was (and is) and so that’s not surprising. They are doing great work and I applaud them, but more is needed.
It’s crucial to support diversity at the strategic and creative decision- making level because without senior BAME executives, it will be diffi cult to embed diversity in the industry. A healthy number of BAME senior creatives will help to safeguard against the risk that this current trend towards diversity will stay as a trend – one that is fashionable now, but dropped later, once the marketing mileage has been gained from having a diverse author list. This has happened before. I am not an expert on inclusivity
and diversity – I’m simply a black woman publishing children’s fi ction – but without thinking about it, I include diverse characters in my books because that’s my normal. Diversity is not my job, it’s my life. I set up my own independent publishing business quite recently – my titles earn fi ve-star reviews from parents, teachers, librarians and (for me, most importantly) young readers.
Illustration from The Lost Dinosaur (Dinosaur Books Ltd).
Autumn-Winter 2019
Sonya McGilchrist pp.??-??.indd 2
09/10/2019 16:27
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