Earlier this month criticism was made about Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Scottish poet and author Kate Clanchy, a book that was a memoir of her time working in a school. The book was originally published in 2019, but it wasn't until certain passages from the book were posted online by a reader that people became more aware of the content of the book.
In a number of passages Clanchy described her former students, children, with language that can only be described as racist, abelist, and even transphobic in its content and usage. These quotes, taken directly from the book, were shared on social media, which immediately resulted in Clanchy denying they were real; even though simply picking up her book and reading through it would prove that that claim was simply not true.
Clanchy described autistic students in this way:
'Janie and Chris are eleven and have Autism Spectrum Disorder. They know this: they are fully certified and statemented; they will tell you all about it freely. They are cheerful, frank children in general: shouty, active, unselfconsciously odd. When we fill in the form for a poetry competition, they both seek out and tick 'other' for their gender. This seems spot on; though they both wear skirts and have long, thick hair, it is somehow very hard to identify them as girls.'
Clanchy goes on to describe how spending more than an hour in their company would be awful, and how she set them an 'absurdly abstruse and difficult exercise', and promptly forgot about them for over an hour. She also states that no other children would want to be be friends with them because of their autism.
She shames female students for gaining weight in one passage:
'she captained every school team through her sixth form and would have been on some cross country teams too, except every year she put on another ten pounds or so of fat on her small, strong frame, and slowed herself down too much to win at hurdles.'
Perhaps most common in the book, however, was Clanchy's casual racism.
'I was baffled when a boy with jet-black hair and a fine Ashkenazi nose named David Marks refused any Jewish heritage, or when a freckled Irish-eyed kid called O'Riordan declared he's never heard of Dublin. The few mixed-race kids were even more aggressively shut down, rejecting any kind of ancestor, Carribean or other-wise. 'I'm normal, Miss', they'd say. 'Normal'.'
'I wonder again what Shakila does to her hijab, and why it seems to sit fuller and higher than the other girls' - a Mother Superior hijab, or one from Vermeer. It can't be starched. Maybe it's draped over twisted horns of hair, like Carrie Fisher's in Star Wars. That would go with her furry eyebrows, her slanting, sparkling black eyes, her general, Mongolian ferocity.'
'Aadil always seems so grand: a tall Somali boy with a deep, African voice, and the almost aristocrically calm manner that sometimes goes with being extremely good looking.'
When these comments were flagged in several reviews on Goodreads Clanchy began to respond to reviewers, telling them that she was not using racist language, and that their reviews were unfair. She then went to her social media to speak out at what she was claiming to be false quotes.
'Sorry to whinge but -on Goodreads, someone made up a racist quote and said it was in my book. Other reviewers picked it up and repeated it. I've flagged the reviews many times but it does no good. Today I got my first email threat based on it. Is there anything I can do?'
She then encouraged her followers to report the reviews as being false because they pointed out the harmful nature of the language that she was using. Going so far as to deny certain terms were even in her book; despite several of these already having been shown to be in her book.
'Flag the reviews? None of these terms are in my book - it's all made up.'
What followed from this was a number of Clanchy's supporters, including fellow authors, jumping to her defence, shouting down anyone on social media who were speaking out against her. As can be expected, the people who were more often than not on the receiving end of this were women of colour, who were simply trying to engage in a meaningful discussion about the casual racism in publishing, and how the concerns of minority groups are often brushed aside.
Chimene Suleyma, author of The Good Immigrant, Monisha Rajesh, author of Around The World in 80 Trains, and Professor Sunny Singh, author of Hotel Arcadia, were amongst those who received the worst abuse for speaking out on this subject.
Author Philip Pullman was one of the authors who defended Clanchy, apparently taking it at her word that the quotes being shared were faked, and made claims that it was unfair to judge a book based solely on several quotes, and that people who had an issue with the book were being too picky.
Most disturbingly, however, was when Pullman compared the people concerned with racism and bigotry within the publishing industry to both ISIS and the Taliban.
Whilst Pullman did release an apology after this, he apologised for responding to the incorrect tweet, and for responding in haste. He did not, however, apologise to comparing women of colour concerned about racism and bigotry to terrorist organisations. At the time of the publication of this article no such apology appears to have been given.
As should also have been expected, much of the media that have covered this event have framed Clanchy the victim of 'cancellation', finding nothing wrong with the content of her book, if they ever mention it, nor do they talk about the abuse or discrimination shown towards people of colour who have spoken out against her.
Despite the hate shown towards the people trying to do good work, to raise awareness of bigotry in publishing and how the industry will quickly close ranks to protect white authors, people have come together to support people like Chimene Suleyma, Monisha Rajesh, and Professor Sunny Singh.
An Open Letter From The Writing and Publishing Community has been created by Sabeena Akhtar, a writer, editor, and festival programmer. This open letter states that the signatories stand with the people who have received abuse, criticism, harassment, and gaslighting thanks to speaking out about this issue. It also calls upon those in the publishing community to do better, to support more than just white authors, and to protect the victims of racism and bigotry within the publishing community.
At the time of this article going live over 1000 people within the writing and publishing community have signed their names to this letter. I'm proud to say that I'm one of them, and that I will always support those trying to call out bigotry and trying to make the world a better place. I would ask those who feel the same to share the letter, to sign it, to stand with those who are being targeted, and to try and make things better whenever you can.
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