Diversity in Publishing – Overview & Accountability
— Last checked August 2025 by Doris Fiedrich.
On This Page:
- Focus on CanLit
- Focus on Race
- Focus on Strategies
- More Essays on Diversity in General
- Ongoing Resources
Focus On CanLit
- Dundas, Deborah. “The Year in Review: CanLit Is Dead, Long Live CanLit.” The Star, Dec. 30, 2018. Read Article
- Elliott, Alicia. “CanLit Is a Raging Dumpster Fire.” Open Book, Sep. 7, 2017. Read Article
- McGregor, Hannah, Julia Rak & Erin Wunker, eds. “Refuse: CanLit in Ruins.” Book*hug Press, Nov. 15, 2018. More Info | Find in a Library
- Miller, Monica. “Diversity in CanLit.” 49th Shelf. Recommended reading for diverse Canadian books. Read Article
- Raymundo, Bridget. “10 Canadian Books to Read During Asian Heritage Month.” CBC, May 5, 2023. Read Article
- Sookfong Lee, Jen. “Open Letters and Closed Doors: How the Steven Galloway Open Letter Dumpster Fire Forced Me to Acknowledge the Racism and Entitlement at the Heart of CanLit.” The Humber Literary Review. Read Article
- Thorkelson, Erika. “Setting the CanLit canon on fire.” University Affairs, March 6, 2020. Read Article
- Wang, Yilin. “Racism in #CanLit: Barriers in Publishing & the Need for Safe Spaces.” Oct. 18, 2019. Read Article
Focus on Race
- Alter, Alexandra and Elizabeth A. Harris. “Publishing Pledged to Diversify. Change Has Been Slow.” The New York Times, Feb. 28, 2024. Read Article
- Baxter, Amy Mae. “What Will It Take To Eliminate Racism In The Publishing World?” British Vogue, August 13, 2021. Read Article
- Canas, Tania. “Diversity Is a White Word.” ArtsHub, Jan. 9, 2017. Read Article
- Deahl, Rachel. “Why Publishing Is So White.” Publishers Weekly, Mar. 11, 2016. Read Article
- DiAngelo, Robin. “White people are still raised to be racially illiterate. If we don’t recognize the system, our inaction will uphold it.” NBC News, Sept. 16, 2018. Read Article
- DiAngelo, Robin. “Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism.” HuffPost, Dec. 6, 2017. Read Article
- Isen, Tajja.“How the Book Industry Turns Its Own Racism into a Marketable Product.” Literary Hub, Apr. 20, 2022. Read Article
- Kantor, Emma. “’People of Color in Publishing’: Striving for More Industry Diversity.” Publishers Weekly, Dec. 12, 2017. Read Article
- Kim, Sandra. “Why Healing from Internalized Whiteness Is A Missing Link in White People’s Anti-Racism Work.” An Everyday Feminism Webinar. More Info
- McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” and “Some Notes for Facilitators.” The SEED Project. Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. First appeared in Peace and Freedom Magazine, July/August, 1989, pp. 10-12, a publication of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Philadelphia, PA. Read
- Oluo, Ijeoma. So You Want To Talk About Race. Seal Press, Jan. 16, 2018. More Info
- Rajesh, Monisha. “Pointing out racism in books is not an ‘attack’ – it’s a call for industry reform” The Guardian, August 13, 2021. Read Article
Focus on Strategies
- “Best Practices for Equity-Driven Acquisitions – Tech Forum 2019.” BookNet Canada. Watch Video
- Chertock, Marlena. “How to Make Your Literary Magazine More Inclusive.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Oct. 2017. Read Article
- Chen, Joyce. “The Politics of Gatekeeping: On Reconsidering the Ethics of Blind Submissions.” Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec 2020. Read Article
- “Diversity in Publishing From A to Z: A List of Book Publishers Who Specialize in Diversity and Inclusion.” Here Wee Read. Feb. 19, 2019. Visit Site
- Gradin, Linnea. “Diversity in Publishing: What Can You Do as an Editor?” Reedsy Blog, Apr. 27, 2021. Read Article
- “Overcoming Bias and Diversity Issues in Publishing.” Bias and diversity issues are still prevalent in the magazine industry. The blog post talks about how the industry needs to address issues of inequality in the workplace. Read Article
- Reimer, Nikki. “Hold Your Fucking Communities Accountable: Defining and creating safer spaces for women, trans, non-binary individuals, and people of colour in literary writing communities.” The Insurgent Architects’ House for Creative Writing at the University of Calgary. Read Article
- Sparkes, Ainsley. “Podcast: Building in-house momentum for diverse books.” BookNet Canada, Nov. 27, 2017. Listen to Podcast
- Thomson, Stephanie. “How to Make Your Writing More Inclusive.” Medium, May 30, 2019. Read Article
More Essays on Diversity in General
- Ansari, Sadiya. “Diverse from What?’: Dionne Brand on Art for All People.” The Globe and Mail, Sep. 27, 2018. Read Article
- Baker, Jennifer. “When It Comes to Inclusivity in Publishing, Editors Also Play a Role.” Electric Literature, Oct. 25, 2017. Read Article
- Crispin, Jessa. “Publishing’s Diversity Problems, or The Paris Review Was Started by the CIA with Alexis Aceves Garcia”. LibSyn.com, Feb. 21, 2019. Listen to Podcast
- “Diversity: Issues Facing Underrepresented Writers.” National Writers Union. Read Article
- Ho, Jean. “Diversity In Book Publishing Isn’t Just About Writers — Marketing Matters, Too.” NPR, Aug. 9, 2016. Read Article
- Mani, Hamidreza “Foot print of a paper: accountability in academic publishing.” The Lancet, August 06, 2016. Read
- Neary, Lynn. “To Achieve Diversity in Publishing, A Difficult Dialogue Beats Silence.” NPR, Aug. 20, 2014. Read Article
- “Responsibility and accountability of authors and co-authors.” Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Vol 16. No 6. 2008 p. 763-764. April 21, 2008. Read Report
- Teixeira da Silva, Jamie A. & Judit Dobránszki. “How Authorship is Defined by Multiple Publishing Organizations and STM Publishers.” Taylor & Frances Online, Accountability in Research, Volume 22, 2015 – Issue 1. Oct. 2, 2014. Read
- Zachary, A. Light. “for New Gatekeepers.” Arc Poetry. Read Article
Ongoing Resources
- Baker, Jenn. 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
- PublisHer: An industry-led movement to bring gender equality to world publishing. Visit Site
- Rethinking Diversity in CanLit: Originally started as a high school project, this blog challenges current curriculum standards to change to more, contemporary, diverse Canadian content. Visit Site
