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The book publishing industry has once again been accused of being culturally insensitive and alienating writers of color.
The response has been so angry and immediate — some critics ask why organizers didn’t just highlight authors of color, while others see the covers as a form of literary “blackface” — that on Wednesday the national bookseller released a statement explaining their decision to “suspend” the initiative. The news was announced on the same day the editions were scheduled to be released at the flagship store in New York City.
“We acknowledge the voices who have expressed concerns about the Diverse Editions project at our Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue store and have decided to suspend the initiative,” the bookstore said in a statement on Twitter. “The covers are not a substitute for black voices or writers of color, whose work and voices deserve to be heard.”
Penguin Random House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, butCNNreported the publisher promised to “donate up to $10,000 to the Hurston Wright Foundation, which works to develop, discover and server black authors” and “give a dollar every time people tweet the hashtag #BlackStoriesHavePower.”
Readers and authors alike have been critical of the initiative.
“Sooooo…..the idea was to put blackface on to white written books…..forblackhistorymonth??!!??” wrote one Twitter user.
“When you’re a kid in school, they always tell you that the wonderful thing about reading is what’s on the page is fixed, but you can imagine it any way you want,” Beresford-Hill told the outlet. “And we started to think, well, if J.K. Rowling can say she never identified race, and it’s open to any interpretation you choose, then a lot of books have covers with white protagonists just because of some sh—y marketing back in the day.”
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Some of her author suggestions?
“Phillis Wheatley. W.E.B Dubois. Zora Neale Hurston. James Baldwin. Langston Hughes. Gwendolyn Brooks,” Kendall listed in a separate tweet.
source: people.com
