Joyce Carol Oates
@JoyceCarolOates
Jul 24
(a friend who is a literary agent told me that he cannot even get editors to read first novels by young white male writers, no matter how good; they are just not interested. this is heartbreaking for writers who may, in fact, be brilliant, & critical of their own “privilege.”) twitter.com/JoyceCarolOate…
jonathan agin
@jonathan_m_agin
·
I’m her friend. sorry guys I’ll do better.
NOT SO LONG AGO, the New York Times did a story about English-language books published between 1950 and 2018 and found white authors wrote 95% of those books. In the last year of the NYT survey, the number was 89%. All this in a country where 57% of the population is white according to the most recent census, which typically under counts POC.
Excuse me for my lack of tears for all those brilliant “privilege” writers—even if they “may” be willing to disparage their birthrights by publishing more books—especially since this literary agent just told POC authors: Do not apply.