Renewed efforts to make room for minority authors are seeing exciting new names appear – but some BAME writers worry how deep the commitment goes Courttia Newland has been here before. In 1997,it seemed as whether the British book industry might finally possess recognised it was out of step with the multicultural society that surrounded it. Writers of colour including Newland, Zadie Smith and Monica Ali were picking up sizable advances as the trade promised a step change. No longer would the doors of London publishers be time machines, or transporting the unwary from one of the world’s most diverse cities to a monoculture that was a throwback to the 1950s. The books and the people who published them were going to be different. Twenty years on,as the industry launches another drive for inclusivity, Newland is not holding his breath. “We are really wary because we possess seen it all before, and he says. “A few people are championed and then people lose interest because they deem the issue has been addressed. And then it all reverts back to the way it was before.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com