Author L.L. McKinney: Barnes & Noble 'Diverse Editions' Are 'Literary Blackface'
Barnes & Noble suspended its campaign to reissue classic books with covers depicting protagonists as people of color after many authors, including McKinney, criticized the initiative.
"There are so many ways to get this right, they had to look for a way to get this wrong."
That's author L.L. McKinney's response to Barnes & Noble's "Diverse Editions" campaign. McKinney's most recent book, A Dream So Dark, is a sequel to A Blade So Black, a contemporary retelling of Alice in Wonderland with a black female lead.
The bookselling chain announced this month that they were going to release classic books with new covers that reimagined protagonists as characters of color. These included, and among others â almost all books by white authors, about characters presumed to be white.
