At least they’re making an attempt.

Originally shared by Maria Rich

This is very interesting! I like what they are attempting to do. Tom Weldon, chief executive of Penguin Random House UK, said “We feel very strongly about diversity in publishing. For me it is a real problem when we don’t reflect the society we live in. It’s not good for books, or culture, or commercially. We are going to become irrelevant.”

What they are doing about it also interesting. A three-part workshop for potential new authors and a year-long mentorship for three of those. Also, they are making efforts to employ more diversity. To the extent of changing their hiring qualifications!

Weldon said, “When a publisher has a bestseller, it’s easy to [just keep publishing] what sold yesterday. [But] there are amazing writers out there who we aren’t commissioning. The whole industry needs to change.” AMEN. Now can we bring this thought process over to the US?