The voices of Black authors are not getting the recognition that they deserve in the publishing industry, but the conversations on Twitter have inspired a new initiative to right that wrong. As writer Michael W. Twitty pointed out on Twitter, Black authors often face bias when the reception of book reviews and are not compensated for their works in the same extent as their white counterparts. The opportunity to collaborate with other Black writers, editors, and publishers is also scarce, which may affect the result of a writer’s work as a whole.
In order to shed light on the Black of the authors and push the publishing industry to be more inclusive, The Friendship of books — a publishing house dedicated to elevating multicultural voices — started an initiative encouraging readers to buy two books, Black authors, between today and June 20. The #BlackoutBestsellerList initiative seeks to empower the voices of Black writers a book of the time and push books by Black authors to the top of the bestseller list. “To demonstrate our power and influence in the publishing industry, Saturday, June 13 – Saturday June 20, we encourage you to purchase two books by Black writers,” the Friendship of Books that he wrote. “Our goal is that the Blackout of the bestseller lists with Black voices.”
The authors of all genres, including Roxane Gay, have shared their support to the initiative on Twitter and recommended a number of books by Black women and other Black authors to get everyone started. “The purchase of books is not the activism, but this effort does absolutely no harm,” Gay wrote in a tweet. “And the purchase of books by authors who are Black no matter to encourage publishers to publish more books of authors Black.” Keep reading to see more recommendations of books by authors Black and add these books about the Black Lives Matter movement to your reading list.
