Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity Action Plan

At Faber we believe in championing equality, in challenging discrimination of any form and in supporting one another to advocate for fairness. Our goal is for Faber to be an organisation that is free of bias and open to all. We are an actively anti-racist organisation and encourage and support all of our staff to take responsibility for upholding this commitment. In June 2020, we entered an all-staff consultation period to develop an ambitious Diversity Action Plan for our organisation:

We view education as critical in helping us to identify, understand and eradicate our biases. Alongside regular training sessions, every Faber employee is encouraged to feed into and read from a company-funded list of books that highlight the experience of under-represented groups.

We are working to ensure that voices we have under-represented are heard in all parts of our publishing, across our adult and children’s lists.

Through the ways we design, market and sell our books, as well as the audiences we seek to reach, we aim to play an active part in driving change across the industry.

Each department has developed a bespoke diversity plan, which caters to its own roles and touchpoints.

We encourage all staff members to engage in our outreach programmes, which include a broad range of cross-sector initiatives, from education and literacy to diversifying the arts and community support.

We are currently committed to the Publishers Association (PA) industry targets, that 15 per cent of our employees are from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds by 2022.

We will continue to provide opportunities for under-represented writers and illustrators through initiatives such as the FAB Prize.

We are confident that by following the steps outlined in our Action Plan and by remaining accountable and resolute in our aims, we can create profound, positive and essential change at Faber.

FAB Prize

In 2017, Faber & Faber and the Andlyn Literary Agency together created the Faber Andlyn (FAB) Prize to help discover new children’s writers and illustrators from under-represented backgrounds.

Every child deserves to see themselves in books, and in the authors and illustrators whose work they read. The FAB Prize aims to discover and showcase new talent, closing the gap between what is currently published and the reality for many families.

The Prize is judged by Faber’s Publisher Leah Thaxton, Andlyn Literary Agent Davinia Andrew-Lynch, Faber Creative Director Donna Payne and Faber Children’s Art Director Emma Eldridge.

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Scholarships at the Faber Academy

Each year, the Faber Academy awards free places on selected courses to writers who otherwise could not afford to attend. Scholarships are awarded to writers whose work shows significant promise but who would for financial reasons be unable to attend the course. The Academy particularly welcomes applications from writers of colour, disabled writers and LGBTQ+ writers.

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