Bloomsbury staff launch book club events for Black History Month

Staff at Bloomsbury are launching an interactive online book club as part of its internal celebrations for Black History Month this October.

Bloomsbury's initiative is part of wider events across the trade for Black History Month, which include two panels by Hachette UK's THRIVE network and Bernardine Evaristo selecting works by Black writers to be published through short story stations at London's Canary Wharf for free.

Throughout October, the Bloomsbury staff BAME Network will be hosting weekly interactive events, including a series of author talks, closing with a discussion about the  Slay in Your Lane authors' more recent project,  Loud Black Girls (Fourth Estate), the anthology they jointly edited and curated, and the nominated read for the month. 

Led by a team of employees including Fabia Ma, Samiha Azim, Aishwarya Das and Lauren Molyneux, the BAME Network, part of Bloomsbury's diversity and inclusion networks, has devised the programme, revolving around the theme "Proud to Be". All UK staff have been invited to attend the online events.

Kicking it off on 6th October will be Angela Browne, author of Lighting the Way and This is How We Look When We Lead, publishing by Bloomsbury Education in 2022.

This will be followed by Grown:The Black Girls' Guide to Glowing Up duo Melissa Cummings-Quarry and Natalie A Carter with Mikki Kendal, discussing her 2020 publication Hood Feminism, and children's author Kandance Chimbiri. 

Also appearing in the online discussions and Q&A is YA author Kalynn Bayron, whose recent titles include Cinderella is Dead and This Poison Heart.

In addition to the author series, other initiatives include a curated list of recipes to be circulated and exhibitions. The programme follows a recent publishing panel event hosted by web magazine DESIblitz, which featured Pooja Aggarwal, director of Bloomsbury's academic and professional publishing, discussing the issue of diversity and inclusion in the industry. 

Commenting on the Black History Month celebrations, she said: "Bloomsbury is committed to embedding the core principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into our everyday business and we are working hard to implement long term, meaningful change. In celebrating and supporting Black History Month, we are pleased to highlight the wide array of books by Black authors and illustrators that we publish across fiction, art, literature, history and politics — books that elevate our Black authors whilst also using our platforms and voices to uplift Black culture as a whole.

"For Bloomsbury’s BAME Network, Black History Month is about raising awareness in a multitude of ways. This week we kicked off with African and Caribbean restaurant recommendations and recipes as well as an amazing author event with Angela Brown. We have a multitude of further events for staff throughout the month. We are proud and grateful of all the work our BAME Network is doing. This is just the start, which makes it all the more exciting when we think about what the future holds and how we can affect real change, progress and true inclusivity."