Center for California Literature: Literary Datahub

Adult literacy

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

In 2023, Lee and Low Books conducted a Diversity Baseline Survey in the literary industry. The survey indicated that only 9.3% of literary jobs are based on the West Coast and 72.5% of the literary industry professionals self-identify as white. This means that it is very difficult to find employment in the literary arts if you live in California-- and if you are a non-white person in California then your chances are even more slim. This information is especially alarming, since California is in the midst of a literacy crisis. According to the California Policy Center, “In California, 25 percent of the state’s 6 million students are unable to perform basic reading skills. Without being able to read on an adult level, Americans will never be able to comprehend our other national problems.”

At the Center for California Literature, we are currently working to launch the Literary Datahub, which will publish reports about access to literary arts and the literary infrastructure that currently exist in Los Angeles County. These reports will focus on (1) how to support the life of a writer (2) how to support the life of a book and (3) how to best distribute books to readers. These reports can be used by fellow literary arts organizations in Los Angeles County in order to build their “case of support” with foundations, major donors, and government agencies. And the reports can help to inform their programmatic decisions too. Upon publication of the reports from the Literary Datahub then we will take several additional steps in order to turn the data into actionable items. For example, based on the findings we will form the California Literature Coalition. This will be a coalition of key organizations that can work together to set and achieve ambitious multi-year goals for the development of the literary arts in Los Angeles County. We believe that serving the needs for the region in the literary arts cannot be completed by only one organization but it will take a communal effort– one which we can facilitate.

At the Center for California Literature, we believe access to literary life should not feel exclusive or difficult to obtain. We want literary life to become a valued part of the everyday- no matter ones geographical location, educational background, or income.
For far too long, creative writers and readers in California have felt difficulty in accessing the literary arts. For example, Diana Marie Delgado, who was Executive Director of a prominent national literary arts center, said, “Someday soon I would like to come home. I think about what it would be like to return as a writer to teach or support the community that inspired and supported me. What's held me back is a lack of opportunities in Los Angeles that I see that are available for creatives like me.”
Our work will not only demystify access to the literary arts in California but we will also innovate a new framework for how to increase participation in literary life, which could be useful to various regions across the state.