Working: How Editor Tracy Sherrod is Amplifying Black Authors

Slate Culture

Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Host Rumaan Alam talks about elevating Black voices in the book publishing industry with Tracy Sherrod, editorial director of the Haper Collins imprint Amistad Press. In the interview, Tracy explains how the predominantly white publishing industry has created barriers for Black authors over the years. She also digs into the details of her work, including the process of negotiating book deals with new authors. After the interview, Rumaan and co-host Isaac Butler answer an ethical question from a listener. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to [email protected]. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. It’s only $35 for the first year, and you can get a free two-week trial. Sign up now to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Just Between Us.
0:02.0	Us.
0:04.0	If you're looking for a new podcast, might I recommend our podcast?
0:09.0	Hi, I'm Gabe Dunn.
0:11.0	And I'm Allison Raskin.
0:12.0	We have a weekly show called Just Between Us where we explore every kind of topic out there
0:18.0	From mental health to sexuality to animal behavior to science. We love to interview fascinating people about
0:27.0	their various expertise. We also answer listener questions and play a very
0:32.2	silly game called
0:33.1	hypotheticals.
0:34.3	You're not going to want to miss it, it's unhinged.
0:37.1	And if you don't want to trust our word for it because it's our show,
0:40.2	you should know that the I-Heart Podcast Awards nominated us for Best Ensemble for 2023.
0:46.5	That means that we are good at our jobs.
0:49.2	Or we have good chemistry?
0:51.6	Ooh! So check out just between us every Wednesday.
0:57.0	In the early days there were all kinds of things that would be said. One being when
1:09.8	President Obama's book came in we don't really publish people with non-traditional names.
1:18.5	The sad part about all of that in these years in publishing are the books that never got through. We don't even know what
1:26.7	we're missing. Welcome back to Working. I'm your host Isaac Butler. And'm your other host Ruman alam.
1:34.0	Ruman we are going to be talking about your incredible interview with Tracy
1:39.3	Sharad the editorial director of Amestad Press, and we also have a fascinating ethical quandary
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.