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Barnes & Noble suspends reissues of classics with new images

Posted at 5:24 PM, Feb 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-05 17:24:45-05

NEW YORK - The book world is facing another embarrassing moment over diversity.

Barnes & Noble is withdrawing a planned line of famous literature reissued with multicultural cover images that has drawn widespread criticism on social media.

"Diverse Editions,” a joint project between Barnes & Noble and Penguin Random House, featured 12 texts, including Lewis Carroll's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.”

The words are the same, but on the covers, major characters are depicted with dark-skinned illustrations.

“Diverse Editions” was announced at a time when the publishing industry was already facing scrutiny over the novel “American Dirt."