Pan Macmillan ceases distribution of Clanchy's books as pair part company

Pan Macmillan and author Kate Clanchy have parted company “by mutual consent”, with the publisher reverting the rights and ceasing distribution of all her work following criticism of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me.

Clanchy’s Orwell Prize-winning book, published by Pan Mac imprint Picador, was widely criticised last summer for its portrayal of young people, with accusations of racial stereotyping and problematic descriptions of other children, including those with autism.

Picador had announced it was working with Clanchy on a revised version of the book. However, a joint statement by Pan Macmillan and Clanchy today (20th January) said this would no longer be published and the two parties were going their separate ways.

It said in a statement: “By mutual agreement, Pan Macmillan and Kate Clanchy have decided to part company.

“Pan Macmillan will not publish new titles nor any updated editions from Kate Clanchy, and will revert the rights and cease distribution of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me and her other works.

“Pan Macmillan wishes Kate Clanchy all the best for the future.”

Clanchy’s Friend: Poems by Young People, an anthology of work by pupils at the comprehensive school where she teaches, had been slated for March but will now also not be released by Picador, alongside her previous books for the publisher.

A new version of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, revised in consultation with “an appropriate group of specialist readers”, had been planned for last autumn but failed to appear. When The Bookseller asked last month if it was still going ahead, Pan Mac said it was still in “ongoing conversations” with the author and her agent Zoë Waldie at RCW regarding publication of the new edition.

Most recently, Clanchy had reignited the criticism of her book in December with a piece for Prospect about being “cancelled”, in which she stated: "The culture wars are only just getting going in British publishing."

That article came just weeks after a Telegraph piece featuring comments from Picador publisher Philip Gwyn Jones about the book, in which he said: "If I have regrets about our conduct during the Clanchy affair, it’s that we weren’t clear enough in our support for the author and her rights, as well as our condemnation of any trolling, abuse and misinterpretations that happened online." He later apologised for the comments and Picador subsequently distanced itself from both his and Clanchy’s remarks.

The criticism of Clanchy’s book sparked renewed debate last year about the publishing industry’s attitudes. Three of Clanchy’s critics faced racial abuse online, prompting an open letter in their support, eventually signed by more than 1,000 people, while Society of Authors president Philip Pullman was critcised for tweets in Clanchy’s defence. In the wake of the episode, an open invitation from people including Nikesh Shukla and Yara Rodrigues Fowler was issued last year to form a group with the aim of changing the UK publishing industry “for the better”.