Lionel Shriver is wrong. Penguin’s push for diversity will translate into better books
Penguin Random House’s vow to make its output ‘reflect British society’ has been met with predictable howls of outrage
Lionel Shriver has directed another broadside at the publishing world, this time taking aim in The Spectator at a Penguin Random House directive that by 2025 its hiring and publishing output “reflect UK society”. Whether entirely serious or as an agente provocatrice, Shriver charged that this was political correctness inimical to the production of “good books”.
This may make for good copy, but Penguin Random House is a very large company in an industry that produces a staggering number of distinct products. Given that writing ability is presumably evenly distributed across the socio-economic and ethnic spectrum – why would it not be? – one would expect, statistically, the company’s output to reflect the wider society. If it diverges to any significant extent, then that itself is evidence of a problem – perhaps a social one, but almost certainly a business one: it will be leaving parts of its market underserved.
Related: Lionel Shriver may not realise it, but greatness can come from anywhere
