The Literary Arts Emergency Fund has released a report on the “state of the literary arts field in the U.S,” concluding that nonprofits and publishers are underfunded, yet provide great value to the literary world. The organization–made up of the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses, and the National Book […]
Diversity
PRH Makes Diversity Gains in Entry Levels, Backslides in Management
PRH released their third annual workforce demographics report, showing flat or modest gains in diversity since last year. “At Penguin Random House, we strive to create books for everyone; having a workforce that represents the society we live in goes hand-in-hand with achieving this goal,” the report says. Among all non-warehouse employees, 71 percent are […]
Pen America Addresses Complexities of Diversity Initiatives, Offers Recommendations
Last week Pen America released Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing, a report on racial and ethnic diversity in the industry—”acute and urgent, if not the sole, areas of under-representation”—compiled from publicly-available data, information from publishers, and interviews with more than 60 authors and publishing professionals. The report explains the complexities in […]
Congressman Joaquin Castro Meets With PRH About Latino Representation
On July 25, Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro convened a meeting with executives at Penguin Random House about Latino underrepresentation in publishing. The conversation, which also included Latino authors and agents, was roughly an hour long, and topics ranged from “lackluster recruitment of Latino authors,” to lower marketing budgets for their books, to the publisher learning […]
PRH Makes Some Strides in Diversity, Sustainability
On Tuesday, Penguin Random House released their social impact report, their “global commitment to serving our communities beyond the books we publish,” which shares programming highlights and data between January 1, 2021 – July 1, 2022. The initiative has three pillars: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Environment & Sustainability, and Free Expression & Joy of Reading. […]
“What’s Next?”: Avid Reader Press Diversity Committee Panel
Wednesday evening, the Avid Reader Press Diversity Committee hosted a panel for junior employees and people hoping to break into the industry. The committee was founded in 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests, “to better understand and reckon with the lack of diversity and equity in publishing.” Avid Reader assistant editor Amy […]