Thoughts on Diversity in Books
- mratdegraff91
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Re: Thoughts on Diversity in Books
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- Insightsintobooks
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- moonshoes
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I've been following a lot of booktubers on youtube for some time now, and have noticed that in the last year or so diversity is being talked about more and more. Not only did it make me aware of the fact that I wasn't reading diversely, it put a lot of new books on my radar and, most importantly, it got a lot of people talking about diversity in books. I don't think it's necessarily the way to fix the problem, but I think it's a good first step to raise some awareness and have people talk about it.
- cjohns105
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Before we congregate with pitchforks and torches in search for a guilty publishing company or two I think there are some things we have to consider. Literature often reflects the experiences of the writer who authored it. English is certainly the lingua franca in many countries and industries, but while those involved with English get a better idea of the cultures that developed alongside the language, that is not a mutually exclusive relationship. What I mean to say is that just because others may be introduced to our culture through English, it does not mean that we have the added benefit of being introduced to their culture through English. It is hard to get authentic experiences and perspectives in a piece of literature without an authentic author to back it up. I would love to write a wonderful novel with a main character who is a young Somali woman. My students would love to see a strong female character rocking her hijab, wearing sandals when it's way too cold outside, and going home to beautiful family and some delicious sambosa. But everything I know about that character is the result of observation and not experience and, in the end, she would only fit those categories on the surface. I've had this conversation with friends, classmates, colleagues, and community members alike, and every time it comes down to essentially the same answer. The best way to get diversity in literature, media, and any number of different creative outlets (or in the classroom for that matter), is for members of those diverse communities to create the differences they want to see themselves. Most YA novels lack diversity in leading characters because they reflect their authors on a certain level. This could be partially blamed on publishers, but I don't actually know the statistics on any of that.
However, as I said at the top, look and you shall find. I have a few on my shelf both here and in the physical realm that could help start some reading for those who are curious. Forgive me for the long post, but as a Lit person and a TESL person this is something that I am always thinking about.
- David Nash
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- Jennifer Allsbrook
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This is an interesting question. I will say that when I choose a book to read I do not intentionally choose based on any particular group. I will admit to reading mostly within my own race and sexual preference. This as I said is not a conscious choice...it just is true. However, recently, I reviewed Doctored by K'Anne Meinel whose main characters where women who fell for each other. That was the first time I had read a novel about F/F romance. I have read a few other works where the love triangles involved M/M/F romance. Emmy Holly's Menage, Strange Attraction, and Velvet Glove and Lorelei James' Saddled and Spurred include characters that do not fit the traditional M/F romance roles. J.R. Ward's Lover at Last focuses on love between two male vampires. People are people no matter what their walk of life and there is much that can be learned from reading other points of view. In terms of literature in a broader sense I think that the more diverse characters that are included in a book the more interesting the story.FangirlAhead wrote:Coming from the YA (young adult) book blogging community, I've noticed a lot of talk about how minorities are underrepresented in literature. Think about it: before reading We Are the Ants, when was the last time you read a book where the main character was a person of color or was LGBTQ+? And what do you think we as readers can do to encourage diversity? I don't have any clear answers myself, so I'm inviting everyone to contribute their thoughts!
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- sakini
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I appreciate this viewpoint. There are diverse books and diverse authors in the book publishing world. The key questions is how do we get more authors with diverse backgrounds to write stories. I like to think that the more we expose people (children in particular) to characters that are like them the more likely they will think, "Hey, I can write a story like that!"cjohns105 wrote: Literature often reflects the experiences of the writer who authored it. ... The best way to get diversity in literature, media, and any number of different creative outlets (or in the classroom for that matter), is for members of those diverse communities to create the differences they want to see themselves. Most YA novels lack diversity in leading characters because they reflect their authors on a certain level. This could be partially blamed on publishers, but I don't actually know the statistics on any of that.
- Shelle
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Good luck on your book! If this group is any indication, your characters will be very well received.mewsmash wrote:I'm actually in the middle of writing a book with many minority and LGBT+ characters. Personally, I love reading a book and seeing that. The bland, white characters we're used to seeing make me bored nowadays. Bring the representation!
-Garrison Keillor
- dhwanis
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