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THE LEAD STORY DIVERSITY IN UK PUBLISHING


04.11.16 www.thebookseller.com


Publishing seeks to address industry’s lack of diversity


Trade ‘needs to seek to forge new connections’


to writers of all backgrounds if it is to increase the range of its output, publishers have told The Bookseller. Statistics, partly compiled by The Bookseller, show that of the thousands of titles published in 2016 in the UK, only a small minority—fewer than 100—were by British authors of a non-white background. But publishers have argued there is now a serious commitment to widening that representation, with one suggesting the industry was in “the process of a very dramatic transition”. The Bookseller this week publishes a range of first-person accounts written by senior publishing executives from diverse backgrounds (see pp08–15), in the first such initiative to focus on the “rich line of brilliant BAME publishers”, in the words of HarperCollins non- fiction publisher Natalie Jerome, who suggested the feature. The essays—by people such as Batsford publishing director Tina Persaud, Tamarind founder Verna Wilkins, and HarperCollins general counsel Simon Dowson-Collins—reveal the realities of working in a predominantly white environment, and the disappointment of not being able to materially increase the output from British black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) authors. The lack of representation is also


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reflected in the bestseller charts (see p23): of the top 100 titles of 2016 to date, just one is by a British writer from an ethnic minority background (Kazuo Ishiguro); there are six in the top 500. An equivalent US chart reveals 30 US BAME authors in the top 500.


No publisher The Bookseller spoke to holds data on the ethnic


he publishing industry needs to improve the diversity of its staff and open itself up


BY SARAH SHAFFI


background of its authors. Some cited data protection rules as the reason the information was not available. Where publishers were unable to provide data on the number of books by BAME authors on their 2016 schedules, The Bookseller compiled the statistics using available publisher catalogues and information on authors in the public domain. There are indications that 2017 could already see a step-change in output, with major acquisitions including the first book by BBC broadcaster Mishal Husain and “Great British Bake Off” winner Nadiya Hussain’s first novel.


AGENTS OF CHANGE BAME is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “black, Asian and minority ethnic (used to refer to members of non-white communities in the UK)”. It is important to note this definition does not include white minority groups, who may also be underrepresented when it comes to books published in the UK. While there was general recognition of a lack of diversity in the trade (the London Book Fair and the Publishers


Pictured are BAME authors published in 2016, above Ayisha Malik and A A Dhand (at his book launch with Transworld


assistant editor Darcy Nicholson), and right Vaseem Khan


Association are next week running a conference entitled “Building Inclusivity in Publishing”), publishers told The Bookseller that more needed to be done to encourage and find British writers of colour. Literary agent and Association of Authors’ Agents committee member Isobel Dixon said widening the backgrounds of literary agents was a key factor. Dixon this week announced that Blake Friedmann would launch an internship in honour of the late agent Carole Blake (see Obituary, p25), which will target applicants from diverse backgrounds. The Carole Blake Open Doors


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Of the top 100 titles of 2016 to date, just one is by a British writer from an ethnic minority background


Project, which will begin next year, will “aim to draw applicants from areas not well represented in publishing: British applicants of BAME backgrounds, those without university degrees and those not from the wider London metropolitan area”. In her essay for The Bookseller (see p08), Jerome wrote: “I’m a passionate advocate for the need for more, many more, acquiring editors of BAME background in our industry. Quite frankly, it’s the fastest, most effective


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