I believe this piece by Mira Jacob "I Gave A Speech About Race To The Publishing Industry And No One Heard Me" may very well turn out to be the most important thing written about publishing this year. Author Mira Jacob was invited to give a speech about diversity at the Publisher's Weekly Star Watch party. What happened next I find so deeply shaming as a member of the publishing community (and as a person who would have been in attendance at this event if I worked in New York) that it's actually hard to read--and, of course, therefore all the more deeply important to read. The second part of the piece is a transcription of her speech in full and it is so very good, and so inspiring. The two parts together add up to something profoundly powerful and deeply important. Please read it.
And, if you're interested in reading more deeply about the topic of diversity in publishing, I also recommend this much longer piece "Equity in Publishing: What Should Editors Be Doing?" a round-table discussion between a number of publishing professionals put together by Antonio Aiellog for Pen America. Not only is it an excellent read, but it also contains a great bunch of links at the end connecting to other recent key writings on the subject.
Image above by Will Varner for BuzzFeed.
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