ABSTRACT

In this conversation, Hamish Hamilton’s editorial director Hermione Thompson discusses the stages by which a book reaches the buying public. The role of agents and the different expectations of literary and genre-focused publishers are considered. The Black Lives Matter movement has been instrumental in the upsurge of interest in black writing and, while welcoming this development, Thompson acknowledges the importance of not pigeonholing writers according to their identity. That matters of religious difference seldom occur in editorial discussions may be a result of the kinds of submissions received, but Thompson acknowledges that it may also indicate a secular norm, of a piece with the white middle-class norms still governing the industry. The interview ends with a consideration of new developments, such as social media and podcasting, and the tendency in some literary festivals to rely on big-name authors to pull in a crowd, thereby further entrenching ethnic and cultural norms.

摘要

在这次对话中，哈米什·汉密尔顿的编辑总监赫敏·汤普森讨论了一本书到达购买公众的阶段。考虑了代理商的角色以及文学和流派出版商的不同期望。“黑人生命也是命”运动对黑人写作兴趣的高涨发挥了重要作用，汤普森在欢迎这一发展的同时，也承认不根据作家的身份对作家进行分类的重要性。编辑讨论中很少出现宗教差异问题，这可能是收到的意见书类型的结果，但汤普森承认，这也可能表明一种世俗规范，即白人中产阶级规范仍然统治着该行业。采访结束时考虑了新的发展，例如社交媒体和播客，