An Excellent Point!

Why, when searching for "African American Mystery Writers," does a click on "images" present you with a page full of white faces? [UPDATED]

"I’ve heard many times from publishers that the 'buyers at B&N' believe multicultural books don’t sell. When they are not stocked in these bookstores, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

 - Why Hasn't the Number of Multicultural Books Increased in Eighteen Years.

I have been reading a lot about diversity (or the lack thereof) in publishing lately. Book Riot posted a list of good articles on the subject, entitled We Need Bigger Megaphones for Diversity in Kid Lit. This, however, is the one quote that stuck with me throughout my reading on the subject:

There comes a point where we have to move beyond saying there is a problem and begin actively working towards the solutions.

from: Diversity in Publishing: Next Steps in the Discussion.

We are all creatures of habit, to one extent or another, and I'm no different. When it comes to reading, I have long standing preferences, but to believe that those preferences have no connection with anything outside myself, is naive at best, and willful ignorance at worst.

The sooner you admit that you are part of the problem, the sooner you can start being part of the solution (or at the very least quit being an obstacle).  

Also from the same article.

I make a point of including writers of color when looking for new poetry, and I rely on the opinions of established poets I already read for many of those choices. But I realized recently that I do not have the same balance in the other literature, mainly murder mysteries, that I read. In fact, I couldn't think of one writer of color in the genre.

Why is that?

We make our choices from what is placed in front of us, and the more strenuously a book is promoted, the greater the chance it will become one of those choices.

And if it is not promoted, or it is never published in the first place . . .

Thousands of books are published each year, and if only a small percentage of them are by writers of color, how will I find them? Because I can only read what I can find.

Perhaps one day we will have the luxury of not actively thinking about the diversity of our choices, but today is not that day.

Another agent, when asked why less than 1% of her submissions were from people of color, captured what seems to be the publishing industry’s general attitude in just 10 words: “This seems like a question for an author to answer.”

This is the language of privilege – the audacity of standing at the top of a mountain you made on the backs of others and then yelling at people for being at the bottom. If it’s not the intangible Market that’s to blame, it’s the writers of color, who maybe don’t have what it takes and don’t submit enough anyway. Read the subtextual coding here – the agent first places the onus of change on the folks with the least institutional power to effect it, then suggests we probably won’t be able to find the time (i.e., lazy) to master the craft. ...

The question industry professionals need to ask themselves is: “How can I use my position to help create a literary world that is diverse, equitable, and doesn’t just represent the same segment of society it always has since its inception? What concrete actions can I take to make actual change and move beyond the tired conversation we’ve been having for decades?"

- Diversity is Not Enough: Race, Power, and Publishing.

After all the reading and hand ringing, I went to work looking to expand the diversity in my murder mysteries, and it was harder than I expected.

Don't search for "writers of color." That won't get you a thing. "African American murder mystery authors" turned up a good result. (Don't look at the images brought up by that search, though. That sea of white faces is joltingly out of sync with the key words.)  It seems you have to be explicit with your search terms. I also found "murder mysteries by Indian authors" (not the Native American kind), "Hispanic mystery writers" (which includes Spanish, Puerto Rican, and Latino), "Asian mystery writers" (not broken down any further).

Now I just have to sift through the new information for new books, then track down and gain access to my expanded choices. When you are not in a position to purchase, the difficulties expand exponentially.

I expect to have difficulties finding much diversity my local library. If the publishing industry doesn't think there will be enough demand to justify spending much of their budget to promote them, libraries will undoubtedly have to be convinced to spend any of their ever shrinking funds.

At times like this, I wish I had a card with a big city library so I'd have better access to the books I want to read, but perhaps my efforts will help expand access for others.








At this point, my library has a book of short stories entitled Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery stories by African American Writers, and it is now on my (virtual) bookshelf. The review (sort of) will be in my end of the month round up.

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear.

- Diversity is Not Enough: Race, Power, and Publishing.

Here are a a couple of other articles on the subject:

 Publishing's Diversity Problem: The Response Scale, &

 The Publishing Perspective on Diversity.

This is something I believe in strongly. Expecting people of color to read stories and identify with characters who bear no resemblance to them and their lives, while saying white people could never do such a thing, is the height of arrogance, privilege - and yes, racism.

I have made the commitment to actively search out and read literature (Murder mysteries do count as literature, honest.) by people of color. I don't expect to like everything I read, after all I don't like everything I read by white authors, but I can still learn a lot.

But seriously, why all the white faces?

[UPDATED to change the title of the post. After all, no sense burying the lead too deep. Right?]

Do You Like Writers and Kitties?

Then visit the

WRITERS and KITTIES

tumbler

You'll find such gems as: 

Zelda Fitzgerald and her, not-only-married-
to-a-famous-writer-but-a-writer-on-her-own-right, kitty

Look What I Just Found!

                                                           . . . at:

 It Doesn't Have To Be Right ... It Just Has To Sound Plausible. (Great name!)

100 Great Science Fiction Stories by Women

I'm not an avid Science Fiction reader, but I do read some, and I'm ashamed to say that I've not read anything by these wonderfully talented women.

Here are the top ten. Please check out the rest of the list

1 ‘The Fate of the Poseidonia’, Clare Winger Harris (1927, short story) online here
2 ‘The Conquest of Gola,’ Leslie F Stone (1931, short story) available in
3 ‘Water Pirate’, Leigh Brackett (1941, short story) available in
4 ‘Space Episode’, Leslie Perri (1941, short story) available in
5 ‘No Woman Born’, CL Moore (1944, novelette) available in
6 ‘That Only a Mother’, Judith Merril (1948, short story) available in
7 ‘Contagion’, Katherine Maclean (1950, novelette) available in
8 ‘Brightness Falls from the Air’, Margaret St Clair [as Idris Seabright] (1951, short story) available in
9 ‘All Cats are Gray’, Andre Norton (1953, short story) available in
10 ‘The Last Day’, Helen Clarkson (1958, short story) available in

READ ON . . .

When AUTHORS Attack . . .

 

The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults In History

by Emily Temple.

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

 - William Faulkner on Ernest Hemingway

“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”

 - Ernest Hemingway on William Faulkner

What More Do We Need?

Writers and Kitties

Colette and her française kitty.

Aldous Huxley and his kitty living it large in their brave new world.

Philip K. Dick and his kitty, they’re both a couple of freaks.

Mark Twain and his famous pool playing kitty.

Elizabeth Bishop and her kitty getting some fresh air; they’re both very regal.

HOW TO BE A WRITER:

1)  Don’t listen to advice from writers. 

 ... And are you sure that writers even have your best interests at heart? Most writers that I know are petty, insecure, self-absorbed dicks. And writers don’t like competition. Therefore, take any advice that they give you with a grain of salt.

There is more, much more, here, by Oliver Miller.

(photo via UCSD Health System)

HERE'S A BIT OF GOOD NEWS FOR TEACHERS

Dan Ariely wrote a brief article on Plagiarism and Essay-mills.

I CAN'T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO HONOR WRITERS, THAN BY READING THEIR WORK.

It's tempting to turn the home of writers into museums to honor the writers, bring in tourists, and preserve the cultural legacy of a neighborhood. But ... to do well, they need to be in a good location and have a big operating budget. Last year, foreclosure hit the Edith Wharton House in Lenox, Mass., and the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn.

Trubek has a better proposal. Why not honor authors like Hughes by reading their work?

"What if we gave a free copy of his poetry to all kids?" she said.

 -  Regina Brett,

Preserving Langston Hughes' house ... .

 WHAT IS A WRITER 

IF NO ONE READS?

Theme for English B        
by Langston Hughes
 

The instructor said,

    Go home and write
    a page tonight.
    And let that page come out of you--
    Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

from: The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Copyright 1994. 

THE BEST ARTICLE ON POLITICS I'VE READ YET

 

What if political scientists covered the news?
By Christopher Beam 

A new article in the Columbia Journalism Review discusses the differences between political journalism and political science. What if academics started writing the news?

A powerful thunderstorm forced President Obama to cancel his Memorial Day speech near Chicago on Monday—an arbitrary event that had no affect on the trajectory of American politics.

Obama now faces some of the most difficult challenges of his young presidency: the ongoing oil spill, the Gaza flotilla disaster, and revelations about possibly inappropriate conversations between the White House and candidates for federal office. But while these narratives may affect fleeting public perceptions, Americans will ultimately judge Obama on the crude economic fundamentals of jobs numbers and GDP.

Chief among the criticisms of Obama was his response to the spill. Pundits argued that he needed to show more emotion. Their analysis, however, should be viewed in light of the economic pressures on the journalism industry combined with a 24-hour news environment and a lack of new information about the spill itself.

Republicans, meanwhile, complained that the administration has not been sufficiently involved in the day-to-day cleanup. Their analysis, of course, is colored by their minority status in America's two-party system, which creates a strong structural incentive to criticize the party in power, whatever the merits.

At the same time, Obama's job approval rating fell to 48 percent. This isn't really news, though. Studies have shown that the biggest factor in a president's rating is economic performance. Connecting the minute blip in the polls with Obama's reluctance to emote or alleged failure to send enough boom to the Gulf is, frankly, absurd.

Democrats have also slipped in their standing among "independent voters." That phrase, by the way, is meaningless. Voters may self-identify as "independent" but in almost all cases they lean toward one party.
Poll numbers also confirmed that Americans are in an anti-incumbent mood. … Ha! Just kidding. The anti-Washington narrative was concocted by dominant media outlets based on the outcomes of a statistically insignificant handful of largely unrelated races. Sorry.

Still, Democrats hope that passing health care and financial regulatory reform will give them enough momentum to win in November. Unfortunately, there's little relationship between legislative victories and electoral victories. Also, what the hell is "momentum"?

Prospects for an energy bill, meanwhile, are looking grim, since Obama has spent all his political capital. He used to have a lot. Now it's gone. Why winning legislative battles builds momentum but saps political capital, I have no idea. Just go with it.

Possible "game changers" for Obama include plugging the oil leak, peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, and World War III, although these events would be almost entirely outside Obama's control.

Looking ahead to 2012, Republicans need a candidate who can shake up the electoral map, which currently consists of "red states" and "blue states," even though there's not much difference.

The GOP—a stupid acronym we use only so we don't have to keep repeating the word Republican—will have to decide between a moderate "establishment" pick and a more conservative Tea Party favorite. In reality, both candidates would embrace similar policies in the general election.

That candidate will then face off against Obama, whose charisma, compelling personal story, and professional political operation will prove formidable. Actually, Obama will probably win because he's the incumbent. And because voters always go with the guy who's taller.

Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.

Copyright 2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

http://www.slate.com/id/2256068/

JUDY BLUME TALKS ABOUT CENSORSHIP

CENSORSHIP

"They want to believe that if their children don't read about it, their children won't know about it. And if they don't know about it, it won't happen."

WHAT TO DO IF IT HAPPENS TO YOU

~ Kids
~ Teachers and Librarians
~ Writers

KIDS, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: A Young Person's guide to Intellectual Freedom

[UPDATE] Judy Blume: "I Was Margaret" : An interview with the YA Writer Who Couldn't Wait For Puberty. -

"Though Blume wrote her best-loved novels in the 1970s, they endure today because they deal frankly and compassionately with the fears, relationships, and sexuality of young people."