DISCLAIMER – I do not work in the publishing industry. I am writing this piece out of curiousity and to stimulate conversation around these issues. I am certainly not trying to cause offence or insult in any way.

In light of recent articles[1],[2],[3], [4] and reports[5] about diversity in the publishing industry in various nations, I intended to write (and still will) about why book publishing seems to find it hard to change. It’s not the entire industry, of course. There are efforts being made to bridge the gap, with mixed results[6].

I think that there is a perceptual gap between two groups of people (those in the industry and the broader public) whose lives don’t naturally intersect with one another. Even if publishing leaders have the best of intentions around diversity, it’s clear that many don’t know how to find and/or how to relate to other audiences.  

Recently, in my own city of Canberra, a very good example of this perception gap is playing out. In a nutshell, two diverging opportunities presented themselves ahead of the 2020 Canberra Writers Festival, both accentuated by COVID19. On one hand, organisers saw an opportunity to (quote) “program some big international names who, even without the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we might not normally attract to Canberra.”[7] And they are big names: Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Dervla McTiernan among them.

The second opportunity was to showcase the region’s local talent, precisely because COVID19 made travel from elsewhere difficult. And this is the point being made by the ACT Writer’s Centre – and especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement being so important. It was the perfect opportunity to show Canberra as a city in a different light, beyond the tired old themes of politics and power. It amuses me that the ACT Writer’s Centre itself has similar diversity issues[8], but at least they are trying to move with the times.

I should point out I’m not looking to cast blame here. Given that the Festival had to create something in a frantic hurry[9], going with a familiar and workable theme made sense on an organisational level, at least. Indeed, it’s amazing that a Festival has been achieved at all given the threat from COVID19.

This festival is only partly funded by the ACT Government[10], and it appears to have a charter aimed at being something beyond a local festival[11].I take this to mean that the festival organisers must cover costs – or there won’t be future festivals. And this, I think, is where the publishing industry’s nexus between commerce and art gets heated. If the main Festival funding stems from ticket sales – and the festival’s historical audience has been similar to the publishing industry’s mainstream customer base – then presumably previous festivals led to lots of tickets (and books) being sold. In light of COVID19, too, would this historical audience have bought tickets for a less recognisable line-up?

The other perspective, however, is just as valid. The Festival Director says that submissions from local writers are welcome but they haven’t been received. That could come down to the fact that (quote) “we only program authors with books published, or upcoming, in the year of the festival.” (unquote)[12]. In a city the size of Canberra, I cannot imagine a better criterion than that to deliberately block the presence of any local writers whatsoever – regardless of background. Not only would the pool of those eligible be infinitesimal in the first place, but they’d then be up against (presumably) more established authors.  This is definitely a case of actions speaking louder than words – and it looks completely tone-deaf.

Where did this criterion come from, and who thought it was appropriate? Is it tied to the ACT Government’s funding? If so, I think both organisations would be better served by working together not only to get such a ridiculous idea scrapped, but to find a way to give local writers a platform in front of a larger audience. After all, many of the volunteers the Festival depends upon are likely to be writers, and they are also likely to buy books at the Festival.  The diversity of local authors will help to shift the perception of Canberra away from the usual tired clichés, to mutual benefit. And how do the Canberra Writer’s Festival organisers expect to keep it going if their audiences keep aging?

Beyond that, at an industry level, everyone involved in book publishing (festival organisers, authors, editors, reviewers) need to think hard about what this kerfuffle portends. Many of the processes around marketing specific books and authors (book reviews, literary prizes, etc) are becoming less effective with every passing year. Writer’s festivals are relevant in this context only if they attract new audiences – not larger numbers of the same audience. After all, if other audiences barely engage at all with existing book marketing, then who do the publishing industry as a whole think they are going to sell to in the future?

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/23/black-and-asian-people-not-seen-as-readers-bernardine-evaristo-condemns-books-industry

[2] https://peril.com.au/back-editions/work-werk-work/the-way-things-work-writing-diversity-australia/

[3] https://overland.org.au/2020/05/pardon-your-expression/

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/27/australia-is-at-a-turning-point-in-the-diversity-conversation-apologies-are-no-longer-enough

[5] (www.spreadtheword.org.uk

[6] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/26/bookstagram-books-instagram-influencers-reading.

[7]https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/canberra-writers-festival-criticised-for-lack-of-diversity/12449110

[8] https://www.theage.com.au/national/cbd-melbourne-a-very-canberra-literary-war-20200714-p55c18.html

[9] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/canberra-writers-festival-criticised-for-lack-of-diversity/12449110

[10] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/canberra-writers-festival-criticised-for-lack-of-diversity/12449110

[11] https://the-riotact.com/writers-festival-rebuts-criticism-over-lack-of-diversity-or-local-flavour/389385

[12] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/canberra-writers-festival-criticised-for-lack-of-diversity/12449110