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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Publishing Stays Racist
If you thought publishing turned a new leaf after Black Lives Matter protests generated a reckoning with systemic racism across industries, think again. Professional artists and writers are talking about how racism and stereotyping continue to find their way onto the covers of books authored by BIPOC writers, and how debut writers in particular are discouraged to push back and advocate for themselves in publishing spaces where they’re told their books won’t succeed without certain visual stereotypes and signaling. Think of the countless color blob covers you’ve seen on shelves, or covers featuring happy people of different hues metaphorically or even literally embracing. Artistic choices like these might seem harmless on their face, but they often belie a mentality that books by these writers are not marketable unless they scream BIPOC CONTENT INSIDE, no matter the actual content of the book, and a default to marketing to a very particular demographic (read, white).
Queer Icon to Adapt a Lesbian-Pulp-Fiction-Inspired Novel
Clea DuVall will always hold a special place in my heart thanks to the films But I’m a Cheerleader and Little Witches, and now she could be reaching a whole new audience as writer and director of the television adaptation of Anna Dorn’s Perfume & Pain. Talk about a fast track from shelf to screen–this novel following a scorned author who, on the cusp of resurrecting her career, falls back on an old and treacherous vice released just this past May. The story sounds deliciously messy and I can only hope it makes its merry, cringey way to one of the million streaming platforms I’m subscribed to.
A Romance Fandom Universe By Way Lifestyle Curators
Are we still calling romance books guilty pleasures? Really? Anyway, lifestyle curators Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur are out to create an MCU-style sitch for the romance readers. Cerulo describes their imprint, 831 Stories, as an “entertainment company with books at the foundation.” Clocking the voracious reading appetite and fandom of the romance community, the two relatively new romance readers are looking to spin their titles beyond the page into merch and other consumer-based touch points. Some of Vanity Fair‘s profile feels dusty in its depiction of romance books, distinguishing 831’s cover design as “notably lacking Fabio-esque oiled-up beefcakes”–I took a look at the cover of the imprint’s debut title, Big Fan, and it does have a specific, perhaps luxury brand, aesthetic. I’ll be chin-hands about how the romance community interacts with the newcomers.
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