Progress is often incremental, says publisher Jason Low, and the book publishing industry moves slowly. The week’s news bears out the thesis.
Last week, author Matt de la Peña became the first Latino author in almost 100 years of the award to win the Newbery Medal in children’s literature for “Last Stop On Market Street.”
It’s good news for those who are looking for more diversity in the media. But one award does not a trend make. Less than 10 percent of books for children in the US are by people of color and about the same percentage are about people of color, according to statistics from the library collection at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin.
So who works in the book industry? Learn more about a new survey at PRI.org.