Saqi and Arts Council England (ACE) are hosting a celebration of the their Positive Action Trainee (PAT) scheme at the London Book Fair this year. Speaking at the event will be Simon Juden from the Publishers Association.

With the Arab World as the market focus this year, independent publisher Saqi will be organising the event. This year Saqi celebrates 25 years publishing in the UK. With its successful international fiction imprint, Telegram, and Dar al Saqi publishing in Beirut, Saqi’s access to outstanding, original voices from all around the world is now broader than ever.

Anna Wilson, Rights Manager at Saqi is an ardent supporter of the scheme and says: “Diversity is publishing’s lifeblood, and it’s the people working in publishing that ultimately decide on the books we buy. As an independent publisher trying to offer alternative voices to the British reader, Saqi is delighted to be able to participate in these traineeships.”

The initiative to encourage diversity in publishing was set up in 2005 after a survey undertaken by ACE and The Bookseller found an under-representation of Black African, Caribbean, Asian, Arabic and Chinese communities in the industry.

Since the start of the traineeship programme in May 2005, ACE have placed fifteen trainees in major publishing houses, literary agencies and bookshops: Saqi Books, Random House, Foyles, Tindal Street Press, Bloomsbury, Faber and Faber, Hachette Children, Hodder Headline, Little, Brown Book Group, Penguin, Profile Books, Rogers Coleridge & White.

Further information: Rukhsana Yasmin on 020 7229 2911 or rukhsana@telegrambooks.com