Have straight white men been pushed off bookshelves?

A bookstore owner’s social media posts on the publishing industry’s ‘woke agenda’ sparked controversy. But she says she’s been misunderstood.

Robinsons bookshop owner Susanne Horman. Picture: Jason Sammon

Wander into your local bookshop, what will you find? Books by white women, mainly. Also, books on “diverse” themes, with rainbows on the cover.

Guess what you won’t find, in anything like the same numbers? Novels by straight white men.

Maybe it’s time for the publishing industry to do a little more to help men get published. It’s an idea that would have seemed ridiculous, even 20 years ago. Male writers have dominated literature for centuries.

But Australian publishing houses have in recent years been pushing female writers, and “diverse” books by Indigenous writers, transgender writers, Arab-Australians and “rainbow writers” from the queer community.

White male writers, writing about white men and boys, have been pushed out.

Susanne Horman, owner of the Robinsons chain of bookshops in Victoria, says this is the point she was trying to make in a series of admittedly clumsy posts on X over the summer.

“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store? Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous art, non-indigenous history,” Ms Horman wrote.

Ms Horman vowed this year not to stock books that “cause harm and make Australians hate each other”.

“Books we don’t need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion … basically the woke agenda that divides people,” she posted, adding a hashtag: We Need Better Stories.

Melbourne writer Emily Bitto was among those who objected: “This is horrifying. The owner has publicly declared that we need more white males in books and vowed not to stock diverse reads.”

Well-known agent Jacinta di Mase said: “How is Suzanne even a bookseller? … Why not just name the shop ‘Books for Fragile Egos’.”

Ms Horman’s X account has since been deleted, but she told The Australian her comments had been misunderstood.

The now-deleted posts from Susanne Horman on X.

Some of her shelves – those stocking women’s fiction, for example – are overflowing, while “positive stories with men and boys as the hero are almost missing from the mix”, she said.

“We are not making a value judgment on this observation and apologise if people have taken this comment as a negative reflection on an excellent range of diverse books.”

When it comes to gaining a mainstream audience, the truth is most “diverse” books struggle.

Australian fiction is dominated by white women, who filled seven of the top 10 places in 2023.

White men took the remaining three.

Female writers also took seven spots in the international Top 10.

The children’s top 10 was a little different: Mem Fox was the only woman on the list. But five spots were taken by Bluey, a cartoon dog.

Some “diverse” books do quite well at some bookshops: at Readings in inner-city Melbourne, for example, Indigenous writer Tony Birch will easily outsell a writer who makes the top 10 at Big W.

Australian literature’s cultural value can’t be measured by volume. That said, a bookshop is a business. According to the website, Robinsons has been in business more than 50 years, with stores at Airport West, Fountain Gate, Frankston, Greensborough, Highpoint, and Werribee. It probably does have some idea as to what customers might like to see more of on its shelves.