Report finds majority of US-based SF magazines not publishing black authors

In the US, a report has revealed that the majority of US speculative-fiction magazines and fiction sites in 2015 did not publish a story by black authors, reports the Verge. The report, which was commissioned and released by US speculative-fiction magazine Fireside Fiction, showed that 60% of magazines surveyed did not publish a story by a black author in 2015, and that of the 2039 short stories published in 2015 across 63 magazines, 38 stories were by black authors. Report co-authors Cecily Kane and Weston Allen admit to some fault in the methodology, stating that the biographical data collected was ‘not entirely self-reported’ due to it being ‘not always findable or clear’. However, Kane and Allen said they believe the data is largely correct after consulting with an actuary, and that they ‘doubt [these errors] existed in such numbers as to unduly dilute the study’. The study deliberately focussed on black speculative-fiction authors rather than authors from other racial backgrounds. Kane said, ‘we noticed several patterns— not limited to the short fiction field — in which “diversity” initiatives excluded black people and hid antiblackness’.

Category: International news