| Book bloggers unable to attend the BEA Bloggers Conference or Book Expo America (BEA) in Chicago, but would like to ‘meet’ other book bloggers and publishers to discuss books and book blogging can participate in this virtual event. |
Delving into Diversity
Book Expo sparked quite the controversy a couple years ago regarding diversity in books and authors. Where are we now? OR, let's take a different direction and explore the diversity of the format of a book. Do we judge a book by its cover and/or content (e.g.,, audio, digital, graphic, etc.)? Or, combine the two topics and discuss diversity found in alternative content (e.g., representation in graphic novels). Get creative and maybe even controversial!
I have discussed diversity in how we approach our reading experience, i.e. different book formats and media reading, and going beyond the books, i.e. cosplay and LARP. I also ranted about the presence of Asian characters in books and media last year.
Over the last couple of years, there has been a growing awareness - or more like it gaining more prominence - of the diversity in books and authors.
Where are we now?
From the small space I am occupying in the book community, I would say that we have made great strides; but there is always room for improvements. There are times that readers are not aware that there is something out there about a POC MC growing herbs that is instrumental in a revolution or a small village in the island of Panay besieged by otherworldly denizens from an uncharted kingdom or a queer couple owning a restaurant but they're secretly retired spies (if you know what I'm talking about... let's make this happen XD). They, and perhaps you and I, don't know that these kinds of books exist because they're not getting the right buzz or they're limited with their Venn diagrams. Awareness, guys.
Therefore, I would love to share some books that might tickle your tastebuds.
(clicking on the covers takes you to Goodreads)
And books I'm looking forward to
What diverse books would you recommend?
You might like the Summer Prince. Armchair Book Expo: May Inclusive Reading Report.
ReplyDeleteTo All the Boys I've Loved Before is one of my favorite contemporaries. I love that we are getting more lighter books with PoC at the center.
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Great post! And thank you for the recommendations! :) I LOVED the Lunar Chronicles so much. I need to reread them soon.
ReplyDeleteI have heard wonderful things about Cinder but haven't read it yet. I want to read that and Life Of Pi.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I have To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Cinder. I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet. Thank you for sharing!
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Gabriella M Reads
My Armchair BEA post.
Great recommendations! I hadn't heard of The Tiger's Daughter - added it to my TBR. A couple of diverse books I can recommend are Alice Oseman's Radio Silence (YA with bisexual, biracial, and asexual rep) and Vaddey Ratner's Music of the Ghosts (own voices about returning to Cambodia after the genocide).
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