An update on HBG’s inclusion efforts (April 2026) 

Hachette Book Group shared its seventh annual report on HBG’s progress on inclusion.     

CEO David Shelley said, “Changing the Story is a key strategic pillar supporting our business, and it aims to align our publishing and organization with the diverse perspectives of the readers we serve; it is imperative that we publish for all, including those historically underserved by the industry. Through steady leadership by Chief People Officer Carrie Bloxson, DEI Director Sara Munjack, and collective effort across HBG, we made progress in 2025 and I’m pleased with this growth. It’s important that we transparently and actively continue this work in order for us to grow our business and fulfill our mission.”

Sara Munjack, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Hachette Book Group added, “Changing the Story is the anchor which holds all of our publishing work together; in that it’s an integral part of our mission of making it easier for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas and opportunity. This annual report, which we’ve openly shared for the better part of a decade, is one way of isolating gaps in our inclusion efforts both internally with our staff and externally through our publishing programs. Data-driven representation is the most valuable way to measure inclusion, and we’ll continue to report out on these efforts moving forward.”

Highlights: Staff, Career Advancement, and Publishing

Overall staff diversity among employees of color remained flat year over year at 36%. Over the past ten years, representation of employees of color has increased by 35%, reflecting meaningful long-term progress.
In 2025, 44% of our new hires identified as POC.
Representation at more senior levels is also showing modest gains. In 2025, we saw slight increases in representation by employees of color at the director and manager levels, following gains at the VP+ level in 2024.
We are also seeing progress in acquisitions by authors of color. Contracts with authors and illustrators of color have increased by more than 30% over the past five years. In 2025, they accounted for 26% of all acquisitions, up 3 percentage points from last year, so there is steady progress in how we’re building more representative publishing lists and support new voices over time.

Partnerships

We are continuing our partnership with Latinx Kidlit Book Festival to bring back their Latinx Storytellers Conference for a third year in a row in NYC for hundreds of Latine children and adult book writers in September as well as fund and support 20 school visits for this school year featuring HBG authors and illustrators. Visits include a free classroom set of books for the participating schools. 
We’re also a major sponsor in supporting the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Impact Awards, celebrating those who have had a positive influence on the Latine community. 
This September we’ll also be our second year of the in-house Changing the Story Festival which brings our Changing the Story pillar to life through engaging panels and activities celebrating our diverse publishing catalogue and initiatives, as well as ways we can learn and improve. We include Hachette voices from all over the world as well as our authors and industry professionals.  
As a part of our Right to Read program, where we aim to get books into the hands of incarcerated, we are furthering our partnership with Bard Prison Initiative to furnish prison libraries across the country, as well as continue to lead prison book clubs.  
We’re continuing our partnership and support of Inkluded, nonprofit dedicated to fostering diversity in publishing, by offering tuition stipends and in-kind support (such as speakers and event space in our NY headquarters) for Inkluded’s participants and programs.