A Spoopy Love Affair With Books
Jean, 39, lover of sci-fi, horror and fantasy, reader of comic books, conqueror of genre fiction.
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The Guardian: Rick Riordan cheers end of book covers that 'whitewash' his black hero
“There is a very strong sense that black characters have been – and continue to be – left off book covers. The problem is widespread,” [Alexandra Strick, manager and co-founder of Inclusive Minds] said. “There have been many high-profile cases of characters actually changing colour completely, so described in the story as black but then appearing Caucasian on the cover. However, very often it’s more subtle than that, with the cover of a book about a non-white character often avoiding featuring a human face at all, or with the character featured in silhouette or even with their face turned away. Sometimes it’s a case of publishers asking that a character is ‘less dark’ almost as though mixed race is acceptable but somehow black skin isn’t.”
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