In the wake of the brouhaha of Jamie Oliver’s book, Billy and the Epic Escape, being scrapped for its offensive portrayal of First Nations peoples, ArtsHub decided to explore the role of sensitivity readers given that Oliver and his Penguin Random House UK publisher neither consulted with any First Nations individuals or organisations nor employed a reader attuned to any perceived harm.
A sensitivity reader is someone who assesses a manuscript in order to identify if there are any potential inaccurate, stereotypical or problematic issues within it before it goes to publication, and alerting the writer and the publisher if so in order for amendments to be made before a book’s release.
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025.
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy