The CBC Diversity initiative was founded in 2012, as part of the Children’s Book Council’s commitment to promoting diverse voices in literature for young people. We believe that all children deserve to see their world reflected in the books they read. We recognize that diversity takes on many forms, including differences in race, religion, gender, geography, sexual orientation, class, and ability.
In addition to championing diverse authors and illustrators, CBC Diversity strives to open up the publishing industry to a wider range of employees. We’ve taken an active role in recruiting diverse candidates, participating in school career fairs and partnering with We Need Diverse Books on its summer internship program.
New York, NY – September 28, 2018 – The CBC Diversity Committee is proud to announce
the winners of the inaugural CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Awards.These
awards will be given annually to professionals or organizations in the
children’s publishing industry who have made a significant impact on the publishing
and marketing of diverse books, diversity in hiring and mentoring, and efforts
that create greater awareness with the public about the importance of diverse
voices.
The winners were announced at the CBC Annual Meeting in New York City
on September 27, and an official ceremony and conversation with the winners
will take place on October 24 at a CBC Forum event. The winners will each
select an organization to receive one thousand dollars’ worth of children’s
books in their name.
Shifa
Kapadwala, the CBC Diversity Committee’s moderator, said: “The committee had
the great joy and responsibility of reviewing nominations from across the
children’s publishing community. In making their selections, the committee has
summarized the accomplishments of these inspiring people and organizations.”
When and where did
you start working in publishing, and what was your entry-level position and
title?
My very first start was as an intern at Levine
Greenberg (Rostan) Literary Agency back in Fall 2010, but my first full-time
position was as an Agency Assistant at Scott Waxman Literary (now called Waxman
Leavell Literary Agency). I started there in March 2011.
How did you find
your first job in publishing?
After I graduated
from college, I was living in Brooklyn working as a bookkeeper for an army navy
store and finishing up my part-time job at the student center. A friend of mine
who worked in a totally separate industry (maybe tech or insurance or something
like that, I don’t actually remember!) happened to share a floor in the same
building as the Levine Greenberg Agency. He happened to hear about their
internships during an elevator ride and encouraged me to apply. After a few
months in, I started applying to full-time jobs (using publishersmarketplace.com,
bookjobs.com, mediabistro.com, etc), including one with Waxman Agency. One of
the LGLA agents was friendly with an agent at Waxman and put in a good word. I
started right away!
#DVpit is a Twitter event created to showcase pitches about and especially by marginalized voices. It will be held on October 5 and 6th. Visit dvpit.com to learn more.
I have always been a reader. Many times, I would read the
last page of a book only to immediately flip back to the beginning and start
again. What brought me back to books again and again was the escape, but it still
felt like I was escaping into someone else’s story, someone so far removed from
my own reality. It never felt like it could be mine, or that my own stories and
experiences could be worth sharing.
That
needs to change. And it’s starting to, but there’s still so much more to do. Thanks
to Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, we have this important concept of mirrors, windows,
and sliding glass doors. And I know there are younger readers out there who
were and are, like me, still searching and still deserving of many different
reflections and many different
windows.
The CBC Diversity initiative was founded in 2012, as part of the Children’s Book Council’s commitment to promoting diverse voices in literature for young people. We believe that all children deserve to see their world reflected in the books they read. We recognize that diversity takes on many forms, including differences in race, religion, gender, geography, sexual orientation, class, and ability.
