Diversity, politics likely topics at publishing convention

This week’s Bookexpo and Bookcon will be a showcase for diversity and for combinations and alliances new and old.

Convention organizers have committed themselves to a guest list representative of the country overall, especially compared with the publishing industry. In 2014, Tavis Smiley was the only non-white among 16 scheduled breakfast and author tea speakers, and few non-whites were included for panel discussions and other events. This week, speakers range from Trevor Noah and Viola Davis to Jacqueline Woodson and Yuyi Morales.

Show organizers are calling diversity not just a matter of fairness, but also of necessity. One educational session is titled “Now go run and Trump that: Black America’s Guide to Thriving and Surviving in President Trump’s America.” Another is called “Opportunity Cost: Why Diversity is Financially Critical for the Book Industry” and warns that “The publishing industry is white, straight, and physically able and the vast majority of books published are intended for these audiences.”

“It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that diversity is front and centre,” Bookexpo/ Bookcon event director Brien Mcdonald told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview.

Bookexpo runs Wednesday-friday at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, immediately followed by the fan-based Bookcon, which ends Sunday.

Dohnielle Clayton, an author and COO of the grassroots #weneeddiversebooks, will appear on two panels this week, including one hosted by her organization. She said there has been progress in the industry, but cited a recent study by the Co-operative Children’s Book Center School of Education, based in the University of Wisconsin-madison, showing that children’s stories remain predominantly by and about whites.

“Like everything else about the publishing industry, it just feels like a slog,” she said. “We just inch forward. And we are inching forward. But it definitely is a slow process.”

Other panels will focus on immigration, gender and sexuality. Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen, the son of Vietnamese refugees, and the acclaimed Iranian-american author Porochista Khakpour are among the scheduled speakers for “Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives.” Kayti Burt will moderate “LGBTQ+ Authors on Gender and Identity in Science Fiction and Fantasy.”