IBPA Publishing University 2026

The environment for diverse books has grown hostile and sales to schools and libraries are down. But the audience for diverse books is larger than ever—and the need is greater than ever, too.  
How can we innovate to advance equity across publishing – from who works in our industry to who and what gets published and promoted? 
This interactive session will start with brief presentations about:
•The BLK Bestsellers list, presented by Troy Johnson (President, African American Literature Book Club)
•The work to expand diverse BISAC codes, in particular for books about Indigenous subjects and communities, presented by Wiley Barnes (Director, Chickasaw Press)
•And a new grant program for independent publishers to help them publish children’s books with Jewish themes and characters.
The session attendees and our faculty will then engage in a group sharing and brainstorm about further innovations that currently exist and/or that we might create.  
IBPA believes in the power of diverse books, and in the importance of mission-driven independent publishers to publish those books so that every reader can find themselves—and learn about others—in the books they read. 

The audio file is attached. Transcript will be added in early June.