How trans activists in publishing hijacked a children's book competition to pursue a personal vendetta

I think you've misunderstood. I read it as they're saying that a story from any of those perspectives would be accepted over a story from the perspective of a white, middle-class child

I haven’t misunderstood it at all

Its badly written

It’s shot the book straight up the charts!

So this white, middle-class, privately-educated woman needs to find an angle that allows her to continue working in publishing but that cloaks the fact that she is just another white, middle-class, privately-educated woman in publishing

No need to get nasty though, just declare yourself 'NB' - or even better 'queer' - and you instantly become a member of the 'most oppressed'.

You don't even have to colour your hair blue these days.

Which is absolute nonsense, as the majority of evacuees were working-class, and often from extremely deprived backgrounds.

I wonder whether those publishers would find the stories of Jewish, white, middle-class evacuees acceptable, with their experiences of racism and anti-Semitism (or well-meaning, confused ignorance)? Or would that be the wrong sort of diversity?

Or they are just self-serving, nasty, narcissistic bullies without some noble purpose.

The belief that if one believes oneself to be virtuous, then whatever one does, however immoral, cruel or wicked, must also be virtuous, is a well-known phenomenon in psychology

Possibly moral equivalence, if your enemy is doing terrible things (or you convince yourself they are doing this) then you feel obliged to do terrible things

This is something I see quite often on Twitter where an activist says they feel horrible climbing down in the gutter to fight, but it’s useless fighting with one hand tied behind you

This is absolutely despicable!

This is sickening. I remember the horrible furore when Onjali Rauf was made writer in residence at Booktrust. I emailed Booktrust to show my support at her appointment.

I’ve since bought all her books for my DS and have given copies as gifts. They’re wonderful, moving, insightful books.

Publishing is FULL of diversity initiatives so this awful agent’s behaviour should be publicly criticised by The Bookseller. But they’ll be too cowardly…

Brilliant post nitronine

As an author myself I can only imagine how this must affect Raif, not only in terms of reputation and sales (actually I hope it will boost those) but in the added personal stress and anxiety in what is already a murky, competitive, cliquey and stressful industry. It's grotesque and so unprofessional of this brat of an agent. Writers are tough though.

I have just ordered her book - glad I heard about it here as I think it will appeal to my school-age child.

The belief that if one believes oneself to be virtuous, then whatever one does, however immoral, cruel or wicked, must also be virtuous, is a well-known phenomenon in psychology That's how nazi and stasi Germany operated.

Anyway, thanks, OP, for sharing this author and booklist. The Phoenix Book Awards sounds like such an excellent idea, I'll look out for the books on the list.

I agree it's staggering. Though from a purely academic view, it would make a great case study for a textbook. The belief that if one believes oneself to be virtuous, then whatever one does, however immoral, cruel or wicked, must also be virtuous, is a well-known phenomenon in psychology.

Self-Serving Justification, I think.

People note this type of behaviour. Who would want an agent who not only has a prejudiced, mean-minded, petty and vindictive mindset but is stupid enough to share that fact publically?

For example, we are not interested in stories about white able bodied WW2 evacuees but would welcome that story from a disabled, LGBTQ+ or BIPOC perspective."

I don't understand this at all. What has your skin colour and being able-bodied or not got to do with your sexuality?

I don't leave them off lists out of spite because I'm not 12.

This is compounded by the list being an award nomination list.

Some people would be honoured to be on an award shortlist, but apparently this lot feel so entitled that their first thought is to complain about the people they have to share it with.

(And, by way of comparison with their nemesis - can you imagine JKR doing such an uncouth, ungracious thing?)

"We are actively seeking voices that have historically been underrepresented, particularly with tropes that are often said to be “over done”. For example, we are not interested in stories about white able bodied WW2 evacuees but would welcome that story from a disabled, LGBTQ+ or BIPOC perspective."

That is so stupid it's almost funny. I assume if this is about Britain, we're talking about Britain, where the term BIPOC is meaningless. And then the idea that children who are "white able bodied" are somehow not worthy of attention, when the vast majority of those children came from deeply under-privileged, impoverished backgrounds, and were wrenched away from their families to experience the loneliness and terror of staying with complete strangers for five years - well, that idea could only have come from an immensely privileged person who has never experienced anything like that.

Leaving aside the shitting on a minority woman trying to make the world a less miserable place for refugees, how can somebody do something so unprofessional as falsify data at work, and then BOAST about it?

I work at a university and there are plenty of academics and a few students I find deeply annoying. I don't leave them off lists out of spite because I'm not 12.

Kereen Getten, When Life Gives You Mangoes. That's her laughing away on Twitter with her publisher.

Which author and book is this rouge agent representing?

LilithofEden - excellent post. I sincerely hope those hateful bullies are here, reading this thread.

White, middle-class, privately-educated woman knows that white, middle-class, privately-educated women have been under the spotlight in publishing for the past few years because there are murmurings about why white, middle-class, privately-educated women dominate the publishing world in the UK. So this white, middle-class, privately-educated woman needs to find an angle that allows her to continue working in publishing but that cloaks the fact that she is just another white, middle-class, privately-educated woman in publishing. And she finds her grift:

"We are actively seeking voices that have historically been underrepresented, particularly with tropes that are often said to be “over done”. For example, we are not interested in stories about white able bodied WW2 evacuees but would welcome that story from a disabled, LGBTQ+ or BIPOC perspective."

Cynical much?