Who gets published in Aotearoa? Three key findings

A recent Booksellers NZ newsletter shared independent publisher Damien Levi’s analysis of 2023 publishing data on gender and ethnicity in Aotearoa. This analysis follows on from earlier work by writer Janis Freegard and cites data published in the critical and bibliographic journal Literature, Critique, and Empire Today by University of Waikato academics Kirstine Moffat, David Simes and Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor.

Below are three key findings from the analysis. Full details – and including further information about the analysis method and inclusions and exclusions – can be found on Levi’s Substack page.

Over-representation of Pākeha writers

In the available data, 44 out of 56 (about 82%) poetry titles, 47 out of 59 fiction titles (about 83%) and 12 out of 15 (80%) nonfiction titles (letters, autobiographies and nonfiction) were written by Pākeha authors. This is significantly greater than the percentage of Pākeha people in the Aotearoa population – about 68%, according to the 2023 Census.

Flat trends in ethnicity data

The proportion of Pākeha authors being published in Aotearoa appears to be remaining static, according to Levi, who compares the results to Freegard’s earlier analyses from 2019 and 2021, which show similar numbers in the backgrounds of published authors.

Levi noted: ‘Due to Pasifika and Asian authors being published at such small rates, a single author can skew the data year on year.’

For instance, in the nonfiction category, one title by a Pasifika author is represented in the 2023 data. This creates a different connotation to the alternative way of reporting this information – that 7% of titles in this category were written by a Pasifika author.

Mixed findings on gender representation 

This observation on small proportions also applies to statistics on gender diverse authors.

According to the 2023 Census, which recorded this information for the first time, about 0.7% of the Aotearoa population is trans, while 0.4% are intersex and 0.4% listed a gender other than man or woman.

Because of the small overall numbers of books published in Aotearoa that appear in these statistics (130 titles), the presence of a total of 4 gender diverse authors’ titles in the 2023 list places the overall representation of this group at about 3%.

Meanwhile, titles by cisgender women represented about 58% of poetry titles, and 74% of fiction titles, but a smaller 33% of nonfiction titles.

‘I think we may potentially find more cis women in illustrated nonfiction, which is not collected here,’ surmised Levi.

More work to be done

‘Ultimately, I want this data to be utilised as a way to publish more books by minority groups,’ said Levi in introducing the analysis.

‘It shows that gender diverse, trans, Māori, Pasifika, Asian and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African authors are significantly under-represented in publishing. If you’re a publisher or are interested in publishing, please consider this data when thinking about what books you want to put out into the world.’

Category: Features