Rali Chorbadzhiyska ’15: Fiction Expands Our Collective Understanding of the Human Experience
Interview by Petia Ivanova '97
Sometimes, you encounter kindred spirits in the most unexpected ways—often after narrowly missing each other а few times. I somehow did not meet Rali while she was a student here from 2010 to 2015, even though I was working at the College doing alumni relations. We both held a deep admiration for literature teacher Garrard Conley, who was writing his autofiction book Boy Erased early in the morning before classes, as we later discovered. To me, he was a colleague and a friend; to Rali, he was her creative writing teacher. However, it took another nine years for our paths to properly intersect when Rali’s mom came across an alumni magazine at the Alumni Corner during Arts Fest 2024. “Would you like to hear about my favorite alumna who is working in publishing in the UK?” she asked. “Absolutely,” I replied, leading to an online meeting between Rali and me where we discussed books, life, and everything in between. Some highlights from that discussion follow. And that’s not all: Rali will be visiting ACS on December 18, 2024, to give a talk on careers in publishing.
Have you faced any significant challenges in your five years of trade publishing experience?
My publishing career journey hasn’t been as straightforward as I originally imagined. After completing my degrees, my first role in trade publishing—which includes everything you see in bookshops, as opposed to academic or educational textbooks—was a temporary contract in the Rights team at Penguin Random House. It was more of a sales job and I did well there for a year and a half during the pandemic, but I kept pursuing editorial roles nevertheless. That was until an editorial application worked out, and I became an Editorial Assistant in the prestigious poetry department at Faber and Faber, covering a maternity leave. The nature of this contract meant I was looking for a new position within the next year. This brought me to Canongate Books, where I assisted editors with my dream books—literary fiction, titles from authors from Africa and the diaspora, as well as narrative non-fiction. I also read short stories for prizes in my spare time. This continued for about two and a half years. However, progression at Canongate or elsewhere was very competitive, and the financial constraints of living in London were pressing on me. Inspired by a friend who left traditional publishing to become a freelancer, I decided to do the same! Over the last couple of months as a freelancer myself I have been involved in projects I was only dreaming of, such as editing novels, providing manuscript consultations, and organizing literary events.
When working with authors, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, what do you enjoy the most? What do you find most difficult?
What I find most exciting about working with authors from underrepresented backgrounds is the wealth of new information I learn about other cultures and, as with all books from all authors, the diverse human experiences they share. A particularly fascinating project I worked on was Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa. Noo is a British-Nigerian travel writer who went to China to explore the lives of African migrants in the People’s Republic and her perspective is like no other. For example, she writes of Chinese women who speak English with Nigerian accents because they learned the language from their immigrant husbands.
What I find the most difficult about working on titles by authors from underrepresented backgrounds is trying to convince traditional publishing that those narratives work and can have a wide readership. To publish a book, you need editorial passion, as well as the enthusiasm of colleagues from marketing, publicity, and sales. People are not always confident that they know the target audiences well enough to sell to them. This is why I believe in the importance of representation within the publishing business, and most of all, the importance of curiosity!
You are passionate about championing underrepresented voices. How do you identify and support these authors in your work?
Sometimes voices are underrepresented because of the industry’s levels of accessibility. Therefore, I strongly believe in writing prizes and looking for talent where the entry point has been democratized. In the UK, there are agents dedicated to finding underrepresented talent. Some strategies for achieving this include traveling, being able to read other languages, and understanding various contexts, including writing in English as a second language.
The support for underrepresented voices should be continuous and evident in budgeting adequately for campaigns and promotion, for example. It is not enough to sign an underrepresented voice as a token debut author on your list. It is about a long-term investment in their creative development, about offering advances that are on par with so-far-traditionally published authors. I also believe in support in terms of positioning to make sure the work is reaching a wide readership because if something is set in Bulgaria, for example, it doesn’t mean it will only be relatable to Bulgarian readers. Reading and writing fiction, to me, is about expanding our collective understanding of the human experience. I believe publishers have a responsibility to provide various perspectives the opportunity to be explored and heard in respectful ways.
How do you envision the future of literature in terms of inclusivity and representation?
As I mentioned, I think literature should intrinsically be inclusive and representative of a wide spectrum of experiences. My hope is that publishing professionals and the readers both embrace their own curiosity to make narratives available. In a divided world I hope fiction can promote empathy and create desire among people to connect.
What advice would you give to aspiring editors or authors looking to make their mark in publishing? Are you an aspiring author yourself perhaps?
I am not an aspiring author, but I want to be the best champion out there for aspiring authors and publishing hopefuls, as well as junior publishing professionals. In my experience, to be a good writer or a good editor, you need to be a good reader first. So my advice to anyone who aspires to join publishing in any capacity is to read widely and with curiosity.
I am also a strong believer in giving credit where credit is due so if you read something and you like it, try to let the world or the person who created the work know in some way. It’s good publicity for them but also a chance for visibility for you. And a chance to make a good impression based on a genuine connection.
Looking ahead, what are your professional goals within the publishing industry now that you are a publishing free-lancer? Are there specific projects or initiatives you’re excited about?
My reason for leaving full-time employment was because I realized I thrive when there is a challenge and, also, I recognized that I needed a new challenge. In the first couple of months of going freelance, I have made so many new connections and gone out of my comfort zone, for instance by learning more about taxes and joining TikTok. I’m enjoying editing on my own, providing manuscript consultations to authors, and I am organizing and chairing a book launch for Farah Ali’s literary novel The River, The Town.
My goal for the future is to continuously find projects that will allow me to use the things I’m good at, reading, editing, author care, and making connections between people, while developing personally and professionally. If you want to follow me alongside my journey, I’ve also created a dedicated Instagram account, @reading.rali, to act as my professional and creative portfolio.
What is Reading Rali currently reading?
I am currently reading the new manuscript from an already published friend, Sally Oliver. She wrote The Weight of Loss which is a novel about a woman who loses her sister and subsequently her mind and her freedom. It’s an honor to read Sally’s latest manuscript before it’s even gone on submission to editors yet. This one also has a female protagonist and touches on the theme of grief but it’s more about a mother-daughter relationship, transgressions, and getting closer to the scary depths of one’s consciousness. reading books for work impacted your personal reading habits, if at all?
When you work in books, everything you read is part of your professional capital and your own positioning on the publishing job market. This has sometimes put pressure on my reading choices but I am never shy about enjoying rom coms or thrillers. I am sure it is even more true for people with more publishing experience than me that reading a really good book can make you jealous that you weren’t the one to publish it. But I also believe it’s true that we are always happy for the author and for the readers that it got published in the first place.
What was your favorite class at ACS or a teacher you will never forget?
My favorite class has unsurprisingly always been English Literature. From Amanda Crocker in the ninth grade to John Stephens (who once commented in his feedback on my notebook, ‘You do realize you have other subjects?’ after I had transcribed and analyzed many more pages of Macbeth than necessary), Amos Van Die, and Garrard Conley (whom I often credit for my editorial ambitions) have all been the best teachers I could ask for!
What were your academic and your extracurricular strengths at ACS?
Academically, I have always been good at essay writing, both in English and Bulgarian. I really enjoyed Spanish and was probably the most annoying classmate in those classes because I was constantly trying to practice speaking. I was part of the choir for a good four years and was involved in dancing in various capacities throughout, including running my own hip-hop club one year.
What subject would you add to the curriculum if you could?
Finances. I think, stereotypically, some people are naturally inclined towards math and I am not one of them. But finances are so important in life, from the personal to the business level, that receiving basic training in understanding taxes, savings, and investment could be a game changer for the future success of students no matter their ‘natural inclinations’.
To find out more about Rali’s publishing adventures follow her on Instagram @reading.rali