FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
We Need Diverse Books™ Announces the Opening of Applications for the 2020 WNDB Internship Grants
March 1, 2020
New York, New York — We Need Diverse Books has announced that the application process is now open for the 2020 WNDB Internship Grants. In the program’s successful first five years, forty-four diverse publishing interns received grants of $2500. Of the thirty-nine grantees who have since graduated from their educational institution, thirty have gone on to full-time work in publishing. This year we’ve increased our grant to $3000 and will award at least fifteen grants to diverse publishing interns.
According to the 2019 Publishers Weekly Salary Survey and Lee & Low Books’ Diversity Baseline Survey, the publishing industry is still predominantly white. An internship is an important gateway into positions at publishing houses and agencies, but the expense of living in large metropolitan areas where most of the publishing industry is centered can be a barrier to many well-qualified candidates. The WNDB Internship Grants help those who might otherwise not be able to accept a position.
“For the children’s book industry to become truly inclusive, we need conscious efforts at every level—not just from creators, but within the industry itself. When the halls of publishing better reflect the young readers who are our audience, only then will we be able to serve them as they deserve and need,” said Linda Sue Park, Honorary Chair of the WNDB Internship Grants Committee.
Sincerely,
J. Albert Mann
Director of WNDB Internship Grant Committee
We Need Diverse Books
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About We Need Diverse Books. We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. It is our mission to put more books featuring diverse characters in the hands of all children. You can learn more about WNDB programs at www.wndb.local. More information about the WNDB Internship Grants is available here.
Press Contact: Alaina Lavoie, Communications Manager, alainalavoie@wndb.local
