Bookshop Owner Apologises After Calling For ‘White Kids’ On Book Covers And No Rainbow
Image: Susanne Horman. Image: Frankston City Council/ Facebook.
Susanne Horman, owner of Victoria’s oldest independent bookstore, Robinsons Bookshop, has released three apologies and deleted her X account after a series of tweets published in December 2023 were reposted, receiving negative press and calls for a boycott by the Victorian book community.
The tweets, screenshotted and posted by the Instagram account coffeebooksandmagic included Horman calling for more “Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous art, non indig (sic) aus history #weneedbetterstories” and calling for less books that feature “hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left-wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people.”
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Tweets Deleted
The controversy surrounding the now-deleted tweets has also led to allegations from a number of Robinsons’ ex-staff members, including one Redditor who claimed that staff who were “uncomfortable selling the Matt Walsh Johnny the Walrus anti-trans book” were advised to ‘find another job because at Robinsons “we don’t cancel books’”.
Staff who had wanted to do displays during Pride month were allegedly instructed to use orange instead of a rainbow colour scheme and “not highlight any LGBT books so that ‘everyone’ would feel welcome.”
The Robinsons Books Instagram page has released three responses to the controversy, stating that “We sincerely apologise to anyone who has been offended by online comments that are being edited by individuals and posted on social media about Robinsons”, although these allegations of doctoring cannot be substantiated.
Better Stories Stack
While the Wayback Machine has not retained Horman’s X account, Google searches for the now-deleted account URL did reveal one of the screenshotted tweets verbatim, and another which reads “Can we have some books like this with a white male lead and no lgbt, no female alpha who takes over the plot… pretty please publishers.”
Robinsons’ third response to the scandal included an Instagram Reel of stacked books in categories, which, upon closer examination, revealed several inaccuracies including a non-indigenous author in “Indigenous titles” and Helen Joyce’s gender-essentialist title Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, in the ”LGBTQ+ Titles”.
The literary community in Victoria and across Australia have responded to the controversy by sharing pictures of a #betterstoriesstack, featuring diverse representation of authors, characters and communities, and #betterbookshops, in celebration of stores that promote representation and are safe, inclusive and accessible.
