Originally published in the Summer Issue 2020.
In June of this year, Reni-Eddo Lodge became the first Black British woman to top the UK book charts. Amid worldwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, and countless others, Lodge’s long-awaited achievement, while exciting, reveals the book and publishing industries to be no less exempt from conversation regarding the grounded presence of institutional racism within modern society.
Much of recent discussion surrounding systemic racism within these industries pertains to a blatant lack of racial diversity within the workforce, as well as many of the stark realities that Black and other BIPOC authors face. In 2019, a survey conducted by Lee and Low Books calculating the level of diversity within the publishing industry measured the overall workforce to be between 70-80% white. Ranging from student interns to the executive level, the study confirmed a longstanding speculation that publishing houses, throughout the US and the UK, are both dominated by and catered towards white, cisgendered women. Public outrage towards these publishing houses has additionally culminated online in the form of a hashtag, #PublishingPaidMe, in which BIPOC authors disclose the amount of their advances to highlight stark financial disparities between white authors and authors of colour.
Despite these controversies, the publishing industry has benefited from the recent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, acting as an outlet for self-education on topics of race. Lodge’s book in question, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, is one of many on a trending ‘anti-racist reading list’, of which selected works are topping book charts in both the US and the UK. In lieu of Lodge’s achievement, Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility (written by a white woman, explaining white America’s aversion to discussing race and acknowledging privilege), has steadily remained at the top of Amazon’s best-selling list for weeks. Even in the general public’s attempt to move away from internalized racism, the publishing industry is unable to do so without exemplifying the ways in which it perpetuates such policies. While reading a book is less of an end-all cure to systemic racism and more of an educational tool, elevating Black voices and raising awareness for the wide scope of Black literature is an encouraged yet long-overdue step for an industry that evidently holds the power to promote cultural change.
