"Well, let's start out with what we know, which is that publishing is overwhelmingly white...Now, that's not a controversial fact, but sometimes to point it out becomes a controversial thing — to speak that truth.
...to get work published by a major house, a writer usually needs to get it past a white gatekeeper, an agent or an editor.
You have to always be conscious of that. Am I going to be submitting something that is going to put the person on the defensive? Is my voice somehow going to be somehow alien or unrecognizable to the person I am submitting it to?
That kind of self-editing is one reason why writers of color would like to see more change in the industry."
"We need diverse agents, we need editors, we need diverse book buyers, we need diverse illustrators, and we need diverse executives and CEOs at the top, too."
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