“The world is a diverse one. Publishing needs to accurately reflect the world as it is, from the books we publish to the people working in every facet of this business.” —Lee & Low Books
We’re excited to announce the Princeton University Press Publishing Fellowship, a new initiative aimed at addressing a lack of diverse representation across the publishing industry.
The world of books and ideas can truly thrive only when there is diversity and inclusivity of voices, at every stage of the publishing process. And recent changes in the constitution of industry leadership, in trade and scholarly publishing alike, are inspiring. But statistics reported by The Publishers Association (UK) and the Lee & Low The Diversity Baseline Survey make acutely clear the need for ambitious and purposeful industry transformation. As the Lee & Low Survey notes, “Until we start to care about equity, we will not make progress, and any gains the industry makes will continue to not be statistically significant.”
The Fellowship is designed for individuals with no prior publishing experience, who are from communities historically underrepresented within US publishing, which Lee & Low data shows to be a majority white, straight, cisgender, and nondisabled industry. Applicants from a diversity of educational backgrounds are encouraged to apply and should have a high school diploma or equivalent, but are not required to have an undergraduate degree.
The program will support two fellows annually in full-time, salaried positions within the Press’s global publishing teams. Fellows will gain immersive training in nonfiction publishing—trade, textbook, scholarly, digital, and audio—and receive mentoring and early career coaching, empowering them with the experience and industry education to successfully pursue careers in publishing.
The Publishing Fellowship is funded to run for five years, with the initial term from July 6, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The two inaugural fellows will be based out of the Press’s Princeton, New Jersey office.
According to Princeton University Press Director Christie Henry, “Princeton University Press’s mission is to inspire scholarly inquiry and impact throughout the world, with a commitment to a publications program that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We recognize that we can’t achieve that mission with a lack of diversity in our own publishing team, nor within a homogenous publishing community more widely.”
Applications for the 2021–22 fellowships will be available on the Press’s website from January 4 to February 15, 2021; first-year fellows will be selected and notified no later than March 8, 2021. Please visit press.princeton.edu/careers from January 4 on to apply.