As a literary programmer for Brighton Festival, Alice O'Keeffe had to reach beyond her "cosy pro-remain bubble". She asks whether publishers are doing enough to engage with a plurality of views.
'When you ask publishing insiders to paint a picture of the impact of Brexit, they tend to produce something that looks like Munch’s The Scream. Andrew Franklin, the managing director of Profile, sums it up thus: “The only upside I can see is that broccoli is apparently going to be in shorter supply.” He cites the rising cost of paper and printing, concerns over intellectual property rights, difficulties with exports and the potentially devastating economic effect on the high street bookshops that are so crucial to the trade.
But while publishing is far from the only industry that fears the economic impact of Brexit, it faces an additional, very particular challenge: its products are responsible for helping the British public make sense of the deeply divided country in which we find ourselves. How can an industry so fervently remainer in spirit engage with the arguments in favour of leave? How can it reach the people who voted for Brexit – and to what extent does it want to?' ... Keep reading on The Guardian
'When you ask publishing insiders to paint a picture of the impact of Brexit, they tend to produce something that looks like Munch’s The Scream. Andrew Franklin, the managing director of Profile, sums it up thus: “The only upside I can see is that broccoli is apparently going to be in shorter supply.” He cites the rising cost of paper and printing, concerns over intellectual property rights, difficulties with exports and the potentially devastating economic effect on the high street bookshops that are so crucial to the trade.
But while publishing is far from the only industry that fears the economic impact of Brexit, it faces an additional, very particular challenge: its products are responsible for helping the British public make sense of the deeply divided country in which we find ourselves. How can an industry so fervently remainer in spirit engage with the arguments in favour of leave? How can it reach the people who voted for Brexit – and to what extent does it want to?' ... Keep reading on The Guardian