Publishing must do better.'While negotiating I heard his voice only once I always hoped he was listening'
We urge our colleagues to speak up and use the resources and influence in their gift as a force for change. We cannot silently stand by whilst a group of marginalised women are being targeted by those with power and influence in this industry. We strongly condemn such behaviour and ask our industry what they will do to rectify this and protect marginalised writers from such harm? At a time when we profess commitment to diversity and inclusivity, why have we cultivated an industry where it is acceptable to target and ignore our colleagues who tell us that we are getting it wrong? Why has the writing community been largely silent in the face of three of its peers being harassed for a prolonged period of time and not mobilised to intervene or at least stand in solidarity? This issue stands to serve as a microcosm of how marginalised writers are treated within the industry and it should be recognised that every one of us is noting the silences of our friends and colleagues, agents and publishers and the regard with which our concerns are treated. It should not need pointing out that such claims have far reaching consequences on the lives, safety and livelihood of people of colour, particularly this group of women who were already receiving threats and being targeted by far right trolls. We stand in complete solidarity with the brave writers who challenged this and condemn all attempts to attack them and obfuscate and negate the veracity of their concerns.Īs members of the writing community, we are equally outraged by the use of such language and extremely concerned by our peers who have decided to use their power and influence in the industry to ignore and talk over women of colour and weaponise deeply troubling Islamophobic tropes against them, likening their actions to that of ISIS or the Taliban. The open letter is now closed to new signatures.Īs members of the writing and publishing community we have watched in horror as three of our colleagues, Monisha Rajesh, Professor Sunny Singh and Chimene Suleyman have been targeted, harassed and gaslighted online for rightly pointing out the use of dehumanising, ableist and racist language and questioning the structures and processes in wider publishing that allowed them to get through the editorial process, become published and then lauded.
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