Books with updated covers never went on sale. The announcement caused a storm of indignation in social networks: both from users and from writers, including black ones.
A writer, Angie Thomas: “Or / Just an idea / You can promote books by color writers.”
Writer David Bolus: “The canonical characters are white. The culture in these books belongs to whites. This is not a guess. Anyone who has read these books knows that at the time of writing the works, there were no black characters. Damn it, they rarely appear now.”
In a statement company explained that they heard a lot of negative comments about the action. The organizers emphasized that book covers were painted by illustrators of different nationalities.
Our covers are not intended to replace “color writers” and authors whose work is no doubt worthy of attention. This initiative was launched by book sellers, who decided that it would help draw attention to classical works. We were inspired by this work at school, we launched it in order to recall the upcoming African American Culture Month, during which Barnes & Noble “highlighted” books on the history of African-Americans and works by black authors.
from the statement of Barnes & Noble
Original news
Largest US bookstore Barnes & Noble with publisher Penguin Random House reissued 12 classic novels under the updated covers of Diverse Edition. The rally is dedicated to the month of African American history – the annual period in honor of which actions are carried out in the USA and Canada against racism and prejudice.
In the action participate:
- “Alice in Wonderland”
- “Romeo and Juliet”
- “Three Musketeers”
- Moby Dick
- Mysterious Garden
- “Count of Monte Cristo”
- “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
- “Emma”
- “The Wizard of Oz”
- “Peter Pan”
- “Treasure Island”
- “Frankenstein”
Five novel covers are available for each novel, designed to reflect different cultural characteristics. Books will go on sale on February 5th – only at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue in New York. For those readers who cannot get the printed versions, free covers in the online store will be available.
The portal AMNewYork notes that such a reprint of the classics is including an initiative to protect cultural diversity in the literature.
