"White Publishing"

There’s a unique fear that I experience as an editor--which I imagine other editors experience as well--after reading a manuscript by and about a minority group I know too little about.

For example, I’m a Persian male who was born in Iran, and raised all over Europe, and then Oklahoma. So if you send me FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, man, I am in it. I lived that experience. Maybe not exactly as Boobie Miles lived it. But I played ball in Oklahoma. I get the lingo. My first manuscript was the story of that experience.

In the same way, if you write a novel set in Rome, if you want to sample some Farsi for a character, or French, then I’m good. I’m still with you. I have firsthand knowledge of the languages, the cultural nuances, etc.

Diversity in the News

May 9th—May 16th, 2013

ON OUR RADAR

• White kids will no longer be a majority in just a few years at CNN
• Where Are All the Black Boys? by Varian Johnson
• See The Fascinating Evolution of Cover Art From 12 Legendary Queer Books at Autostraddle – including Annie on My Mind
• In Our Own Words – YA author E.M. Kokie on how girls in YA novels rarely describe their own bodies using anatomically specific words
• Celebrate YA Books That Feature Haitian Culture at YALSA’s The Hub
• Pictures, Patterns, Words by Lyn Miller-Lachmann at Diversity in YA
• Author’s Notebook | Leslea Newman at The Whole Megillah
• Is UK Publishing Too “White, Middle-Class” to Be Truly Global? at Publishing Perspectives
• No censorship: Northville Schools refuse to remove Anne Frank from reading list via Hometownlife.com
• Trash Can Days by Teddy Steinkellner – review at Pink Me – addresses depictions of race in YA
• DiYA Author Spotlight: Laurence Yep at Diversity in YA
• Black In America: A Story Rendered In Gray Scale – NPR books on the  need for coming-of-age novels that address race
• 2013 Middle Grade Black Boys: Seriously, People? at Fuse #8
• DiversifYA: Kristina Pérez – interview with the author of The Myth of Morgan La Fey (Palgrave Macmillan) and A Hedonist's Guide to Beijing; also see this week’s interview with Tamara Mataya
• YA books need to reflect our diverse society at The Telegraph
• A Few Hints About the Japanese Literature Challenge 7 Coming This June at Dolce Belleza
• Two-in-One Notebook Special | Author Leanne Lieberman and Editor Sarah Harvey, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust at The Whole Megillah
• 10 YA Books About Southeast Asian Americans at Diversity in YA

Book Spotlight: Never Fall Down

The National Book Awards Gala is coming up this Wednesday and one of the finalists in the Young People’s Literature category is Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick. It is a novel based on the real life of Arn Chorn-Pond—a man who survived unspeakable horrors in the labor camps of the Khmer Rouge as a boy, escaped as a soldier, and was later adopted and brought to the United States. This is a story of brutality, but ultimately it’s an inspiring story of how the arts can save a life, and how the resilience of the human spirit can shine even in the darkest of times.

Patricia McCormick
Photo by Roberto Ligresti

In her brief introduction, Patty writes:

Nearly two million people died—one quarter of the population. It is the worst genocide ever inflicted by a country on its own people.

I used this quote often in my pitching because when I’d first read it, it shocked me…and I knew it would shock others. It did. What I learned from the many journalists and producers I spoke with is that a lot of people don't know these facts. This doesn't altogether surprise me as the Cambodian genocide is not a piece of history that is widely taught or discussed. Cambodians themselves would prefer to avoid their terrible past. When Patty and I discussed the history and the current relevance, she wrote me the following for background and context: