Press Statement: Black Lives Matter

Publishing entrepreneurs Helen Lewis and Abiola Bello are available for media interviews, editorial commissions and comment. Please contactinfo@literallypr.com.

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Co-Directors of independent publishing house Hashtag Press and the new imprint for under-represented voices Hashtag BLAK, The Author School and The Diverse Book Awards, share their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter headlines, campaigns and news stories from the past fortnight.

Abiola Bello and Helen Lewis, Co-Directors of independent publishing house Hashtag Press and new imprint for under-represented voices Hashtag BLAK; The Author School and The Diverse Book Awards, share their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter headlines, campaigns and news stories from the past fortnight.

Abiola Bello:

I am a black author and publisher in an industry that it dominated by white people. Black Lives Matter is not a hashtag. It is a movement that will carry on until we have seen real change. It is being said time and time again but there is not enough representation in the publishing industry. It is frustrating to walk into a room and I am the only black person there. It is frustrating being in a meeting and being compared to another black publisher as if there are only two of us. It's annoying going into a bookshop and just seeing one black author, like that represents all of us. We are here and our voices deserve to be heard. The #PublishingPaidMe hashtag actually made me feel sick. It never crossed my mind that was even a thing - to pay black authors less than white authors. I was disgusted. I had to call out several publishers, booksellers and editors on their silence. They should all feel embarrassed for not speaking up sooner. I love that I am connecting with more Black and Asian women who are speaking out just as much as me. Our voices together will create real change. And on that note can we stop with BAME and POC? I am Black and I would like to be called Black please. Please stop grouping us into one non-white category. 

This is why we created Hashtag BLAK and The Diverse Book Awards. To give a platform to the voices that publishing want to keep quiet. We want to read their work and we want to celebrate them. The entries for The Diverse Book Awards have been awesome. I have read titles from authors that I have never heard of before. Some publishers couldn't submit. Why? They hadn't published any diverse books last year...

Helen Lewis:

As a white woman, I recognise that it is not enough tonot be racist, it's imperative that I amanti-racist. I need to speak up and step up more. I have witnessed systemic racism in society, and in the industry in which I am a part of, for many years, but honestly, I was shocked and sickened to discover how deep it runs within publishing. I've seen publishers choose to make no comment in response to the racist acts that have dominated the headlines over the past fortnight, not participate in the #BlackLivesMatter social media campaign, nor make a statement on their position to support their black colleagues, their black customers, their black authors. This silence is a big part of the problem in my opinion - there's no room for racism... or sitting on the fence.

The hashtag #PublishingPaidMe that emerged over the weekend on Twitter revealed the massive disparity between the advances paid to white and black authors. A decision made over and over again by different publishers who hold the purse strings; to pay black authors less than white authors. This is a situation that hadn't even crossed my mind as being possible. Having sat with this revelation for 24 hours I am still at a loss as to how that decision could ever be made.

Smaller advances from the bigger publishers typically equate to smaller marketing budgets, less advertising, lower PR costs. Yes, we need diverse booksandwe also need a level playing field for authors based on talent, not skin colour. Yes, we need diverse booksandwe also need publishers making these decisions to question themselves, the system, their management. It's no longer enough to perceive yourself as ‘not racist'. We need to be anti-racist. To step up and be part of the change. Thankfully there are some glimmers of light, and there are many people in the publishing community, including myself and Abiola Bello, trying hard to be a positive part of an exigent change. I read diverse books to my daughters and I talk to them about what is happening in the world right now in the hope that there will be positive change in the future from generations to come. Right now though, it seems like there's an awful lot of work to be done by our generation... and I encourage everyone to play their part.

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