US bookstore Barnes & Noble cancels Black History Month campaign covers after backlash

The bookseller hoped it would convinced it would help drive engagement with classic titles
Barnes & Noble / Penguin Random House
Bronwen Weatherby5 February 2020

US bookstore Barnes & Noble has suspended its 'Diverse Editions' campaign after the project faced a furious backlash.

Launched to mark the start of Black History Month, the initiative aimed to "champion diversity in literature" .

For the campaign, the bookseller redesigned covers of classic novels and changed the skin colour of their characters.

But it had far from the desired effect and instead received a considerable backlash, being branded "insensitive".

Critics said any campaign should have promoted BAME authors
TBWA\Chiat\Day\New York

The company later released a statement and acknowledged "the voices who have expressed concerns... and have decided to suspend the initiative."

Among the books to get new covers were Peter Pan by J.M Barrie, Jane Austen's Emma and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.

The Stateside bookseller announced the plans on Tuesday saying it had teamed up with Penguin Random House to create the new collection to "ensure the recognition, representation, and inclusion of various multiethnic backgrounds reflected across the country".

The books were due to land in their flagship store in New York on Wednesday however, after a strong negative reaction online, it withdrew the novels from the shelves.

Some criticised the range as a money-making exercise, while others claimed it overlooked the opportunity to promote books written by BAME authors.

One commentator even slammed the project as "literary blackface".

One person wrote: "[sic] I haven't had mental time to be mad about this since my editor sent this to me earlier like 'this is dumb right? just a cash grab?' JUST MAKE SOME SHINY POSTERS OR SOME T-SHIRTS AND SELL THOSE.

"Do not repackage white books with diverse covers and lie about what's inside them."

Another agreed: "No, thank you. Promote BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of colour] writers."

The novels were supposed to drop onto shelves in New York on Wednesday (Barnes & Noble/Penguin Random House)
Barnes & Noble/Penguin Random House

A spokesperson for Barnes & Noble defended the Diverse Editions range but said: “We acknowledge the voices who have expressed concerns about the Diverse Editions project at our Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue store and have decided to suspend the initiative.

"Diverse Editions presented new covers of classic books through a series of limited-edition jackets, designed by artists hailing from different ethnicities and backgrounds.

"The covers are not a substitute for black voices or writers of colour, whose work and voices deserve to be heard. The booksellers who championed this initiative did so convinced it would help drive engagement with these classic titles.

"It was a project inspired by our work with schools and was created in part to raise awareness and discussion during Black History Month, in which Barnes & Noble stores nationally will continue to highlight a wide selection of books to celebrate black history and great literature from writers of colour.”

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