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Walter Grants are open for submissions now through August 31, 2021! We will award 8 grants of $2000 to unpublished diverse writers & illustrators, including 3 brand new grants, thanks to donors Angie Thomas, A.M. Dassu, Margaret Owen, & Hanna...

Walter Grants are open for submissions now through August 31, 2021! We will award 8 grants of $2000 to unpublished diverse writers & illustrators, including 3 brand new grants, thanks to donors Angie Thomas, A.M. Dassu, Margaret Owen, & Hanna Alkaf.

[Image description: Graphic featuring the WNDB logo, the program application dates (August 1 to August 31, 2021), header text that reads, “WNDB is Open for Walter Grant Submissions!”, and quote text that reads, “The Walter Grant truly helped change my life. Beyond the recognition it gave me, I was able to use the money to buy the laptop which I wrote THE HATE U GIVE on. It’s an honor to now be able to give other writers similar opportunities to fulfill their dreams.” — Angie Thomas, Walter Grant recipient]

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Aug 02, 2021

Internship Grants

2018 will mark the WNDB Internship Grant Program’s fourth successful year, and the committee has plans to award five new grants to diverse publishing and agency interns. In the past four years, the program has awarded 25 grants, with twelve eligible interns having gone on to full-time work in the publishing industry. More info here: https://diversebooks.org/our-programs/internship-grants/

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Feb 15, 2018
When It Comes to Inclusivity in Publishing, Editors Also Play a Role

electricliterature.com

When It Comes to Inclusivity in Publishing, Editors Also Play a Role

Authors aren’t the only ones responsible for fixing—or scrapping—a troubled book

“Among the stories that were submitted to me were two written by abled people that include disabled characters. Where my marginalization (as a woman of color) can help me identify problematic areas, my privilege (as a cishet, abled person) can easily allow me to dismiss it. This is why it’s important for me to listen to and engage with friends and voices in other communities — in this case, voices like Alice Wong who leads the #CripLit chats and the DisVisibility Project, Karrie Higgins who is vocal about disability on her blog and on social media, Vilissa Thompson’s Ramp Your Voice, Keah Brown’s essays on feminism & disability and creation of #DisabledandCute, Alaina Leary’s writing on disability representation on and off screen, the existence of @disabilityinkidlit Disability in KidLit, comedian Zach Anner’s videos on YouTube reflecting how inaccessible the world is, and Cara Gael O’Regan’s In Sickness + In Health podcast. Because of their work and the work of so many others I had sources that helped me determine something was off in these stories.

I asked, “What is the reason for this (disabled) character in this piece?” As in, are they there to serve the abled protagonist? Are they someone you still don’t have a hold on yet? What gaze are you viewing them through and why? By asking this question I hoped to spark the understanding that while the story was good, these particular characters weren’t working as written. These writers are not bad writers, nor are they bad people. Mistakes get made and both sides can catch them sooner rather than later. And when we can’t catch them in time or at all, the next step is to acknowledge this and do better — and sometimes, that means cutting an incompletely thought-out character or story, rather than trying to fix it. In this case the revised stories were scrapped and we decided on other ones. Even if it meant one less story in the anthology, I had to stand by this. As editors that is our job.“

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Oct 25, 2017

2017 WNDB Internship Grants
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We Need Diverse Books™ is now accepting applications for 2017 WNDB Internship Grants. In the program’s successful second year, grants of $2500 were awarded to each of eleven diverse publishing and agency interns. After two years of the Grant Award Program, eleven eligible interns have gone on to full-time work in the publishing arena. This year five $2500 grants are available to diverse publishing and literary agency interns. New this year, WNDB will include a metro stipend to each intern.

According to the 2016 Publishers Weekly Salary Survey, “Little progress on diversity,” has been made. And the publishing industry is still predominantly homogenous. An internship is an important gateway into positions at publishing houses and agencies, but the expense of living in New York City can be a barrier to many well qualified candidates. The WNDB Internship Grants help those who might otherwise not be able to accept a position.

“We’re delighted to be awarding grants to worthy interns for a third year, and also happy to see the ongoing success of our previous interns.” Linda Sue Park, Honorary Chair of the WNDB Internship Grants Committee said. Jennifer Mann, Project Manager for the Internship Grant Committee, has agreed to step in as Acting Director while Anne Ursu is on sabbatical.

Find out more on our website.

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Mar 01, 2017
Why The Publishing Industry Can't Get Disability Right - The Establishment

theestablishment.co

Why The Publishing Industry Can't Get Disability Right - The Establishment

In an industry mostly dominated by able people, disability is 'other.'

Since that day, I’ve come back to this question often: what is the reason that we don’t have more portrayals, intersectional and inclusive portrayals, of disability and disabled people? Why are so many stories about disabled people written by our friends, families, and caretakers instead of by us? So many stories about disability only offer pity and inspiration porn, disabled people hailed as “inspirational” solely on the basis of our being disabled. A huge part of that reason is that the people who make choices—about what’s being published, how it’s framed, and who gets to tell disability stories—are often not disabled themselves. To that effect, abled writers, editors, and publishers treat disability as an “outsider” story.

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Nov 20, 2016
minoritiesinpublishing: ““There’s no reason to think Black people, Black women, Black men that we can’t be bringing in a certain amount of audience or good business. Because we can. The thing is, is that books and publishing in general there has to...

minoritiesinpublishing:

“There’s no reason to think Black people, Black women, Black men that we can’t be bringing in a certain amount of audience or good business. Because we can. The thing is, is that books and publishing in general there has to be an investment, there has to be promotion, and there has to be leg work. Because you know what, people of color right now don’t trust you. They don’t trust you to get their stories right. They don’t trust you to pick authors telling great stories. So when you start doing your work, and start doing right, and start paying attention to them the same way you pay attention to these audience you’ll see better business in this area. If you don’t have good business in this area it’s because you haven’t built good business.”

Recent guest smashfizzle rightfully notes, as studies and data have shown, that there’s clearly an audience, particularly in the Black community, for media. So what barriers are there? If the business isn’t aware of how to reach the community or produce what the demographic would like to see via responsible representation, how will the demographic respond? 

ashley ford black consumers black artists publishing quote promoting diverse books

Jul 09, 2015
minoritiesinpublishing: ““[A friend] gave me a book one day and it was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. And as I was reading that book all this energy came over me because [I thought] it ‘seems to me these people are Black.’ Oh my god Black people...

minoritiesinpublishing:

“[A friend] gave me a book one day and it was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. And as I was reading that book all this energy came over me because [I thought] it ‘seems to me these people are Black.’ Oh my god Black
people are in books. We’re not invisible! We’re seen. It was such an amazing sensation and feeling. And I just wanted other people of color to have that same feeling, that same validation, that same affirmation for our lives and who we are. And not only were the people [in the book] Black but they felt like Black people I knew.” 

In the latest episode, Tracy Sherrod of Amistad Books talks about the book that caught her eye and made her realize Black people were in literature and she wasn’t invisible. 

toni morrison black characters publishing

May 28, 2015

Faye Bi: How I Got into Publishing

cbcdiversity:

Publicist at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and Saga Press

When I was looking for my first job, I’d ask as many people as I could how they got their start in publishing. I would collect stories from internship mentors, interviewers, people I met at networking events, whoever, in exchange for bright-eyed enthusiasm. As I found out, there’s no single path to publishing, but rather a network full of detours, twists, and forks that make up our small (yes, small) publishing village.

On the surface, my path seems straightforward. My junior year at Columbia, I joined my college’s alumna mentor program as I began pondering life after college. Since I specified that I was interested in publishing, I was matched with the excellent and wonderful Juliet Grames, now associate publisher of Soho Press. Juliet was invaluable to me. At her advice, I did three internships before graduating in 2010: at an agency, in children’s editorial, and in adult trade marketing. She introduced me to other people in publishing, and I lived in her spare bedroom in Harlem while job-hunting in New York.

After graduation, I laid out my plan for intense networking: interviews both informational and professional, panels, coffee dates, lunch dates, Kid Lit Drink Nights and KGB Fantastic Fiction Nights, basically anywhere I knew publishing people would be. Five months later, I began working as a publicity assistant at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 

Read More

Part of partnering with cbcdiversity on our internship initiative means that there are chances for more diverse applicants like Faye Bi to enter the publishing world!

(Source: cbcdiversity)

cbc diversity cbc books how i got into publishing publishing faye bi

Apr 17, 2015
From minoritiesinpublishing: Literary agent Monica Odom with lizadawsonassociates makes an interesting correlation (throwback Spice Girls reference!) to what it’s like to be perceived as something simply because of the color of your skin/ethnicity....

From minoritiesinpublishing:

Literary agent Monica Odom with lizadawsonassociates makes an interesting correlation (throwback Spice Girls reference!) to what it’s like to be perceived as something simply because of the color of your skin/ethnicity. We need more diversity in books and the publishing industry so that people don’t feel pigeonholed by others’ perceptions. 

diversity monica odom diversity podcast perception representation diversity in publishing publishing quote spice girls

Feb 16, 2015
Got Diversity? Six Hacks to Improve Diversity in Book Publishing

publishersweekly.com

Got Diversity? Six Hacks to Improve Diversity in Book Publishing

A selection of book industry professionals and executives offer fresh, practical ideas—hacks, as it were—that can be used for action on diversity.

“When we talk about employee diversity, people think it’s only about race and ethnicity. But it’s also disability, gender, and religion” says Ayanna Coleman of the CBC.

The lack of diversity isn’t just in books, it’s in the publishing industry as well. Several publishing professionals were approached by publishersweekly about ways in which the whole of publishing can better diversify it’s staff. 

publishers weekly diversity in publishing publishing we need diverse publishers cbc ayanna coleman david unger retha powers dawn davis kate engh tina jordan aap ccny Shaye Arehart columbia publishing program publishing certificate program ccny publishing certificate program

Dec 15, 2014
Recap: Horn Book's Mind the Gaps Colloquium at Simmons College

blog.leeandlow.com

Recap: Horn Book's Mind the Gaps Colloquium at Simmons College

The panel I participated in was called Publishing for the Gaps. The other panelists were Arthur Levine, publisher of Arthur A. Levine Books at Scholastic but more famously known for bringing Harry …

leeandlow co-founder Jason Low spoke on Publishing for the Gaps to a wide (majority) audience about the need for diverse books and how hopefully the conversation is just getting started and the momentum is building for #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We hope so too, Jason!

lee and low lee & low jason low simmons college diversity panel publishing mind the gaps Vaunda Micheaux

Oct 25, 2014
Diversity in Publishing Matters (Whether You Like It Or Not) - BOOK RIOT

bookriot.com

Diversity in Publishing Matters (Whether You Like It Or Not) - BOOK RIOT

There has been so much talk about diversity in reading these days, and a surprising amount of aversion to it, which shows that this needs to be an ongoing conversation. This is going to be a very frank, very not-politically-correct post; … Continued

Wallace Yovetich makes very good points. Supporting diversity is necessary to show the wider publishing world that we want to see these books and yes the lack of diversity IS an ongoing issue. 

diversity in publishing bookriot book riot we need diverse books publishing diversity in books WeNeedDiverseBooks

Sep 30, 2014

The World Agrees: #WeNeedDiverseBooks

Unedited audiostream of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks panel at BookCon 2014 in New York, NY:

“After taking the Internet by storm, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign is moving forward with brand new initiatives to continue the call for diversity in children’s literature. Join the WNDB team as they share highlights of their campaign, discuss the success of grassroots activism, highlight diverse books and how everyone can diversify their shelves and talk next steps for the campaign. Ellen Oh (PROPHECY Series), Aisha Saeed (Written in the Stars, 2015), Marieke Nijkamp, founder of DiversifYA, Lamar Giles (Fake ID) and Mike Jung (Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities). Special Guests include acclaimed Authors Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Matt de la Peña (The Living) and Jacqueline Woodson (Beneath a Meth Moon). Moderated by I.W. Gregorio (None of the Above, 2015).”

(Source: SoundCloud / diversebooks)

SoundCloud diversebooks publishing BEA BookCon WeNeedDiverseBooks Highlight highlight

Jun 02, 2014

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