I’ve worked in publishing since 1984, first as an employee and then as a self-employed editor, and I must say this: “Publishing, you’re killing the industry by not making sure to keep it diversified. It has been mostly all White forever, and it cannot survive that way. The world is not all White, dammit!”
From the New York Times:
“When Lisa Lucas was hired in the summer of 2020 to take a big job at the country’s largest book publisher, there was a sense that things were finally starting to change in what has long been an overwhelmingly white industry.
“Lucas, who became the publisher of Pantheon and Schocken, imprints within Penguin Random House, was an unusual choice for the job. Executives in the book business often spend decades working their way up the ranks. While Lucas was a well-known figure in the literary world—she had previously been the executive director of the National Book Foundation, which administers the National Book Awards—she had never worked in corporate publishing. …
“This May, Lucas was abruptly let go, informed of her firing just a few hours before it became public. The news stunned some in the literary world who saw Lucas, 44, as a tastemaker and rising talent, and as someone who could help discover and champion writers of color. …
“ ‘These Black women who were brought in, publishers looked at them as disposable rather than creating industry titans, which is what they deserve to be,’ said Dhonielle Clayton, a novelist and the board chair of the organization We Need Diverse Books.
“ ‘Someone like Lisa Lucas, she’s an industry tastemaker,’ she continued. ‘If you remove these tastemakers, you remove an ability to bring in new voices and conversations and books, and we’re going to see that ripple out.’ ”
Why was Lucas fired?
“A company memo said that Lucas … [was] let go to make way for a more ‘nimble, concentrated leadership team’ that ‘is necessary for our future growth.’ ”
So of course, publishing is sacrificing Black women’s careers and Black authors’ careers on the altar of Big Money. How very American. And how shameful and small-minded.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/books/publishing-diversity-lisa-lucas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ek4.BuAY.KYSkWVdwExFK&smid=url-share
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American publishing’s attempt at diversification at the top:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/books/book-publishing-leadership.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ek4.DcLJ.4U4uAoCZKV9a&smid=url-share
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“Penguin Random House Dismisses Two of Its Top Publishers”
“Lucas, the first Black publisher at Pantheon in its 80-year history, was hired in 2020 from the National Book Foundation, where she was the organization’s executive director. In her time at Penguin Random House, she published titles including 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯-𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, which was a National Book Award finalist, and signed a two-book deal with LeVar Burton.”
