(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)NEW YORK ā Book publishing in 2020 was a story of how much an industry can change and how much it can, or wants to, remain the same.
To its benefit and to its dismay, publishing was drawn into the events of the moment.
Penguin Random House, among other initiatives, asked all employees to read Ibram X. Kendiās āHow To Be an Anti-Racist.ā Kendi later presided over a company town hall.
Macmillan CEO Don Weisberg, who cited a wide range of diversity programs at the publishing house that began before āAmerican Dirt,ā said he āunderstands the skepticism."
The CEO of Penguin Random House U.S., Madeline McIntosh, noted how well book publishing could meet the public's needs during the pandemic and other events of 2020.