While there’s no hard and fast list,sensitivity readers might be enlisted for stories in which there are migrants or refugees,neurodiverse or differently abled characters. They might also have lived experience of being trans,queer,non-binary,autism/ADHD,anxiety,chronic illness,or homelessness,drug use or addiction. Few Australian publishers employ such people in-house,they are generally contracted on a case-by-case basis.
The role of sensitivity readers in classics such asDahl’s children’s books andIan Fleming’s Bond novels involve them assessing the text to ensure it meets with current social expectations. It’s out with “enormously fat”,witches as “hags” and other terms that haven’t aged well,and in with more acceptable,often toned down language. Racist and sexist language in Fleming’s books has been modified over the years,including while the author was alive. The debate has proven polarising,with some,includingSalman Rushdie,arguing it’s revisionist censorship and others,like Australian author Andy Griffiths,saying it’s a regular part of the job.
Eva Mills,a publishing director at Allen&Unwin,says many of the best authors do a lot of this work themselves.
“If they were writing about a child who has grown up with domestic violence,good authors would go and do a whole lot of research before they write that character themselves,” she says. “So as a publisher we probably only use[a sensitivity reader] if a manuscript comes in and we have a little spidey-type feeling that something is not quite as authentic as it could be.”
“The ideal situation is that the author themselves has the lived experience with what they are writing about,so they can bring that authenticity to the work. These days we are a little bit wary about authors writing in the first person of an experience that is nothing like theirs.”
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Expert readers are also regularly employed for cultural consultation,for example when insight into First Nations and other cultural backgrounds is required. “These days we try very hard to publish from within those cultures,we want a creator from that culture,” Mills says. “Occasionally,even a picture book might have Indigenous knowledge in it ... then we will go to the relevant First Nations group and consult with them and there’s some kind of remuneration for that input.”