Book Hype hosts Karen and Brittany are joined by Ariana for a discussion of Our Own Voices and the need for more of them in literature!

You can find Book Hype on Twitter at @BookHype.

What we’re reading:
–The Last Builder by Simeon Graves
–Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
–The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
–All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister
–The Windwitch by Susan Dennard

Book Bites:
-YALLWEST: What is it?
-It is Ariana’s favorite book festival
-YALLWEST is a very diverse book festival (with not just one panel on diversity!)
-She will be going in April and will come back with some highlights for Book Hype!

What is #OwnVoices?
-The We Need Diverse Books campaign and Diverse Books in YA were started a few years ago
-Own Voices branches off of that
–Own Voices: when an author and a protagonist share the same marginalized identity
-More diverse characters are coming into stories, but they are not being written by marginalized authors
-It feels more like a “vampire” or “dystopian” phase
-Not all authors are trying to take advantage of the diversity movement, but even by trying to help, the results are not great
-Maggie Stiefvater has a bit of a problem with this in All the Crooked Saints
-This is one example, and Maggie is not ill-intentioned, but it highlights the problems that exist

How can we continue the conversation?
-Window versus Mirror theory
-You should ask yourself: Am I the person to tell this story? Why am I the person to tell this story?
-If you do feel that you are the person to tell this story, then you must be willing to do the research, but understand you will never truly get the whole picture
-There are plenty of diverse authors; help promote their books!
-This will create authentic diversity
-It is incredibly important for young readers who are let down by feeling like they are reduced to a stereotype
–Libbra Bray in defense of Ellen Oh

Own Voices versus Ally Voices:
-Championing for Own Voices: there are only a certain amount of spots for genre books from publishers
-Some authors are taking the spots of diverse writers
-But, for example, Rick Riordan grew in his career to include diverse characters as a representation of the world, so he is not taking the “spot” of someone else
-The importance of having a sensitivity reader involved

Roxanne Gay — “You think you are alone until you find books about girls like you.”

Recommendations:
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
El Deafo by Cece Bell
The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera
Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
Serpentine by Cindy Pon
Marvel’s America by Gabby Rivera
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

What’s Next?
-We will keep you posted!

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