Diversity in Publishing – Organizations & Initiatives
— Last checked and updated April 27, 2021, by Rachel Lin, Langara College Library & Information Technology practicum student.
Projects and Initiatives
Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW): The AAWW, created and written by Asian Americans, has been designed to promote and make visible the work of Asian American authors. The online content includes magazine articles and a series of podcasts. Visit Site
Asians in Publishing: This resource is specifically created to support Asians in publishing and literature. The Facebook group offers mentorship and building connections in the community. Visit Site
Building Good Relationships With Emerging BIPOC Writers: This 2019 workshop with Phoebe Ka-Ir Wang discusses ways to encourage emerging writers and build more inclusivity at a magazine. Watch Video. Accompanying materials by Phoebe Ka-Ir Wang: Wishlist and checklist (pdf), Wishlist and Checklist (MS Word), Scenarios (pdf)
Books & Boba by Marvin Yueh & Rerra Yoo:”A book club and podcast dedicated to spotlighting books written by authors of Asian descent.” Visit Site
CAN’T LIT: A monthly podcast hosted by Dina Del and Jen Sookfong Lee. There is a wide range of Canadian topics that are covered in this podcast, including literature. Listen to Podcast
Code Switch: A weekly NPR podcast run by a team of multi-racial and multi-generation journalists who are interested in race and racism in society. The topics in the podcast cover issues related to race and how they impact different areas of society. Listen to Podcast
Dani & Mollie. Black Chick Lit: The bi-monthly podcast covers books that are written by black women authors. Listen to Podcast
De-Canon: A Visibility Project by Dao Strom and Neil Aitken: “A ‘pop-up library’ and web resource project that showcases literary art by writers/artists of color.” Visit Site
Disability in Kidlit: The website contains information related to the portrayal of disability in young adult literature. One of the purposes of the creator is to help writers create more authentic, accurate, and respectful disabled characters. Visit Site
Disability Visibility Project by Alice Wong: “An online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.” Visit Site
Disabled Writers: This resource is designed to support editors who want to connect with disabled people who currently work or want to work in the field. Visit Site
Diversity in YA. (Currently on hiatus): The website features published guest posts and author interviews which are related to diversity in young adult literature. Visit Site
Editors of Color: A database that contains listings of people of colour who work in different professions, including editors. The goal is to provide networks to help diversify companies and other organizations. Visit Site
Fainting Couch Feminists by Mica Lemiski: This podcast series is a collection of interviews with women which covers a wide range of topics: gender, politics, relationships and literature. Listen to Podcast
Lambda Literary: “[N]urtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives.” Visit Site
Latinos in Publishing: “A network of book professionals committed to supporting and increasing the number of Latino/a/x in the publishing industry, as well as promoting literature by, for, and about Latino/a/x people.” Visit Site
Lean In: This website is a collection of resources to “help women achieve their ambitions and work to create an equal world.” Visit Site
Micro-aggressions: Power, Privilege, and Everyday Life: This blog is a project whose purpose is to create awareness of everyday micro-aggressions by presenting a collection of real-life examples. Visit Site
Minorities in Publishing: This podcast discusses diversity among authors, people in the book publishing industry, people in literary fields, and other professionals working in-house. Listen to Podcast
Native Land Digital: Includes a guide on territorial acknowledgments and many other resources. Visit Site
People of Color in Publishing: Created to support and empower people of colour throughout the publishing industry, including native/indigenous people. Visit Site
Publishing in Color: This resource is a series of conferences and workshops for groups of writers of colour who are currently under-represented in publishing. Visit Site
Identity Politics: Features new stories and views of race, gender and life of American Muslims from invited guests who share their perspectives. Listen to Podcast
The SFT (Speculative Fiction in Translation) Podcast: This collection of podcast series shares knowledge and experience of authors, translators, editors and publishers related to their perspectives on speculative fiction from diverse countries. Listen to Podcast
Three Percent Podcast by Chad Post: “A destination for readers, editors, and translators interested in finding out about modern and contemporary international literature.” Listen to Podcast
Writers Guild of Canada Diversity Initiatives. A committee “[c]reated to develop and implement initiatives supporting diverse screenwriter members.” Visit Site
Awards & Funding
The Canadian Ethnic Media Awards: Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) is formerly known as the Canadian Ethnic Journalists and Writer Club. The organization supports ethnic professionals in the fields of print, radio, television, and online journalism. There is a total of seven awards categories in 2020. The competition is welcome to all journalists, in any language, whether they are members of the Association or not. Visit Site
Carl Brandon Society: The society’s goal is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction. There are two awards given from this society and both award work related to speculative fiction. The winners will receive a $1000 cash prize. Visit Site
Con or Bust:This organization is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to help people of colour attend science fiction conventions. This fund is an annual fund through donation and an online auction. Visit Site
First Peoples’ Cultural Council: The First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) was created by the BC government in 1990. The program offers funding for individual Indigenous artists living in BC. The artistic works can be in any artistic discipline: visual, literary, media and more. Visit Site
Shoot-for-The-Moon: This is a project to raise ongoing grants to support QTzS, BIPOC and disabled writers in Canada by providing funds for trans writers. Visit Page
Indigenous Voices Awards: The award is created to support and nurture the work of Indigenous writers and Indigenous artistic communities. The eligible applicants for the competition must be Indigenous. There are cash prizes from $2,000 to $5,000. Visit Site
Inclusive Conferences, Festivals, and Events
See also: Inclusion and Equity | Industry Writing Programs and Festivals. Writers Guild of America West.
#DVPit: A Twitter pitching event for marginalized authors and illustrators by Beth Phelan: The annual online event provides a chance for authors and illustrators to promote their work. Visit Site
The Festival of Literary Diversity: FOLD celebrates diversity in literature by promoting “diverse authors and stories in Brampton, Ontario – one of Canada’s most culturally diverse cities.” In 2020, there were over twenty literary events held virtually between April 30 and May 3. Visit Site
Growing Room, A Feminist Literary Festival: Annual event in March organized by Room magazine in Vancouver, BC. Visit Site
LiterASIAN Writers Festival: The festival was originally held in Vancouver. From 2018, the University of Toronto and Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop are the hosts of the LiterASIAN festival in Toronto. “The festival’s purpose is to promote and celebrate the works of Asian Canadian writers and artists.” Visit Site
Wakefield Writers Festival: “Writers Fête is one of the most anticipated cultural and literary events in the region. We work purposefully to build a linguistically diverse program that showcases local and national francophone, anglophone, ethnic and indigenous literary talent.” In Wakefield, Ontario. Visit Site
WisCon: A feminist science fiction & fantasy convention held annually in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit Site
Mentorships and Other Career Assistance
Awaken: This program is designed to empower “leaders and teams to lead inclusively and authentically.” Visit Site
Diaspora Dialogues: “Supports diverse writers to turn their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development and opportunities to publish and present their work.” Visit Site
The Editor-Writer Mentorship: The program is to help pair upcoming writers from underrepresented groups with an experienced publishing editor. Visit Site
The Future Is You and Me: A Vancouver-based program “designed to support young women of colour to take on leadership positions in arts, cultural and creative industries.” Visit Site
Inkluded, An Inclusive, Literary Community: Champions diversity in publishing by supporting like-minded organizations and works to develop and place young people from diverse backgrounds into their first publishing jobs. Visit Site
InkWell Workshops: “Offers free, drop-in creative-writing workshops in Toronto to people living with mental-health or addictions issues led by award-winning professional writers with lived experience of mental illness.” Visit Site
The International Women’s Media Foundation: The program supports reporting projects, particularly stories of global importance and underreported stories. Women journalists, which includes trans women, and non-binary people, from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply to the program. “IWMF will make an annual total of $230,000 worth of grants through four rounds of funding through 2025. The average grant size in $10,000.” Visit Site
Learning Lab: BIPOC Performing Artists Edition by ArtStarts: This is a lab to help professionals develop experiences in various fields. “Learning Lab is to build capacity for performing artists who are Black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour.” Visit Site
Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship by Toronto Arts Council: The program offers support to individual newcomer and refugee professional artists and to be mentored in their chosen arts discipline. Visit Site
Thursdays Writing Collective: This archive resource contains related writing workshops and support for writers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that ran from 2008-2018. (Accessed 12/04/2020) Visit Site
We Need Diverse Books: This blog advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honours the lives of all young people. Visit Site
Writing the Other: Resources and workshops on “writing characters very different from” the writer “sensitively and convincingly.” Visit Site
