Under Review

In his poem “Slingshot”, the writer and activist Andrew Ogun reminds us that the firmer the pull-back on the sling, the greater the force will be towards the target—he describes it as the dance between desire and destination. It is with this in mind, that I commend to readers of this publication, the inserted magazine, the Review, founded and produced by the Jhalak Foundation and the Royal Literary Fund’s WritersMosaic—a development resource that showcases UK writers of the global majority.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Review is printed and distributed by The Bookseller, but is editorially independent, and, beyond our small role in its physical creation, its existence is entirely the work of others, including Jhalak Prize founder the author Sunny Singh and prize administrator the writer and agent Jamilah Ahmed, the Review’s editor Guy Gunaratne, designer Michael Salu, and its contributors such as Irenosen Okojie, Will Harris, Colin Grant, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Margaret Sturton and my former colleague Sarah Shaffi.

Nevertheless, I can be admiring from a discrete distance. Sunny and I first chatted about how The Bookseller could help with this launch 18 months ago, and the results are… well, read the magazine and find out.

The Review is also a challenge. It exists because there is otherwise a lack of attention on these writers

The publication is a statement, both of presence and intent. As Gunaratne says in his introduction: “The message to our industry . . . is not one of corrective, or response, but rather collective self-assertion." In his essay, WritersMosaic’s Grant speaks of the use of stereotypes around, for example, the “Black British experience”, and the “prevalence of tokenism and of short-term engagement with the work of writers of the global majority”. The ambition of the Review, he writes, is to help to shape the future of mainstream literature in the UK.

The Review builds on the good work of The Jhalak Prize, which makes space and brings attention to writers of colour in Britain and Ireland. It is some years younger than the Women’s Prize, but the thinking behind it is the same, and the newer award should be regarded by the trade and, importantly, the media, as on a level. Rather like the WP, I expect Jhalak’s importance to grow over time, its relevance a continuing pull on the sling.

The Review is also a challenge. It exists because there is otherwise a lack of attention on these writers. More widely, in his essay Grant suggests, as others have, that the UK book trade’s interest in publishing and marketing authors of colour has waned since the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd—a similar point was made by Rebecca Kuang in the podcast interview she did as part of The British Book Awards  series, a perspective she explores in Yellowface. “We know now in 2024 that all those promises made in 2020 . . . [has not] resulted in anything significant”.

From later this month both the UK Publishers Association and Booksellers Association will be headed by two women of colour—Bonnier’s Perminder Mann and Fleur Sinclair from The Sevenoaks Bookshop, who step up to become presidents of these organisations. In both instances, this is a first: neither associations have been led by people of colour before now. I say this not to undermine Grant or Kuang’s view, but rather to reinforce it. As Ogun suggests in his interview the destination may always prove to be elusive, but that does not mean we cannot continue to pull back harder on that sling.