In PRIDE Magazine, September 2009, I was outraged when I read an article, 'Judging a Book by its Cover' by Cynthia Lawrence. The novel LIAR, by Australian novelist Justine Larbalestier, is about a young African-American girl. The author was astonished to see a white face on the book cover, instead of the protagonist Micah, who has short, "nappy" hair.
This saga became the subject of a blazing race row with Bloomsbury Children's Books, the book's US publishers. After alot of fuss made from critics, bloggers and internet commentators, who blasted the evident "white-washing", Bloomsbury was forced to change the cover. However, the revised cover depicts a mixed-race girl with curly hair as opposed to the character of the black girl with nappy hair.
It seems that publishers still deem it as not financially viable to market book covers using black people, and many black books do not receive the same vigorous marketing. Although I was aware of the widely held assumption that white readers won't buy the book with a black face on the cover, I really thought the US of all places wasn't in this same ignorant league.
PRIDE magazine asks 'Have you ever come across a book cover that appeared to be "white-washed"? If so, they would like to hear from you. Email your comments to: info@pridemagazine.com
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