Editors NSW

The decolonised editor: unconscious bias

Topic: Sensitive, culturally literate practice has long been essential to the work of editors. Now, in the wake of worldwide protests against racism in June 2020, the publishing industry, like so many others, is coming to terms with its own complicity in the systemic oppression and exclusion of marginal voices. This global reckoning with the dangers of cultural homogeneity has catalysed a new sense of urgency for representative publishing programs, and as a result, a greater need than ever before for editors to address our inherent biases and blind spots. This presentation will examine the challenges we face, as editors working on often newly-diverse lists, to decolonise our practice, and discuss ways forward as a collective to ensure that we have the necessary tools and support to best perform the critical developmental position we occupy in the publishing process.

Presenter: Radhiah Chowdhury graduated from the University of Sydney in 2010 with a PhD in Children's Literature. From 2012-2019, she worked as a children's editor in the trade publishing industry, with such houses as Scholastic Australia, Allen & Unwin and Giramondo. She is currently senior audiobook producer and commissioning editor for diverse voices at Penguin Random House Australia. Radhiah is also the recipient of the 2020-2021 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship, awarded for her ongoing research project: 'It's hard to be what you can't see: Diversity Within Australian Publishing'.

Meeting presented via Zoom

6.45 pm log-in for 7.00 pm presentation

Cost: $10 members; $20 non members

Booking link: TBA

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