Diversity in the News — August 2014

We hate to admit it, but summer is swiftly coming to a close and fall is almost here. Even though cooler weather is around the corner, there are plenty of things to look forward to like the September release of the late Walter Dean Myers’ book On a Clear Day and the ever-enjoyable Banned Book Week celebrations, which kick off September 21st.

With the fall also comes a flurry of activity as everyone gears up to get back into the swing of things, which means so are we! CBC Diversity has a nice line-up of events for our members in the coming months, some great posts coming your way on the blog, and a virtual college fair session to attend. Autumn will definitely be a busy time, but we’re ready! We hope you are, too.

• Are We Really Ready For Unstoppable Characters Of Color?: Award-winning author Sharon G. Flake (The Skin I’m In, Unstoppable Octobia May) wants the publishing community to “move past the tamping down of bold African American girl characters.”
• Dear Book Publishers: Letters from the Fifth Grade: letters written by 5^th graders at the Dothan Book School in Vermont urging decision-makers to address the lack of diversity in contemporary children’s books.
• A Personal Moment of Reflection – Courtesy of the Littlest Of Readers: Ann Dye, Associate Director of Marketing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, on why all kids deserve stories where “from the very start where they can be the hero.”
• Subjective Reality by Zareen Jaffery, Executive Editor, S&S Books for Young Readers: “…at what age does protecting your kids become a form of censorship in itself?”

• Malorie Blackman faces racist abuse after call to diversify children’s books at the Guardian: Britain’s children’s laureate has vowed that “hell will freeze over before I let racists and haters silence me” after calling for diversity in fictional characters.
• Little, Brown BFYR to Make a Donation to First Book in Honor of Malala Yousafzai’s Memoir via the CBC: Boost their donation by sharing this on Twitter: “#ISupportMalala! Tweet @lbkids with the hashtag and 1 book will be donated @firstbook to a child in need. http://iammalala.pgtb.me/c4s4rd.”
• To Achieve Diversity In Publishing, A Difficult Dialogue Beats Silence at NPR: “Your ability to imagine that there is a market has to do with your ability to imagine that those people exist.”
• Rejecting Rejection with Author I.W Gregorio via The Writing Barn: the debut author of None of the Above discusses racism in publishing and the value of refusing to back down.
• Green Screen: The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why It Matters at The American Reader: PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize prize-winning author Vanessa Veselka discusses the power of narrative, and the danger of being deprived of one.
• I’m Sorry For Coining the Phrase ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ via Salon: Nathan Rabin, blogger and coiner of the popular term, explains why it isn’t a sufficient descriptor of most female characters.
• ‘We Need Diverse Books’ to Launch a Diversity in the Classroom Initiative via the CBC: the WNDB campaign has officially established themselves as a volunteer-run nonprofit organization and announced several upcoming projects.
• Free Speech Groups Launch “Cameron Post” Essay Contest For Delaware High School Students In Response to Book Censorship via the CBC: students are invited to write a 250-500 word essay saying what they think school board members should know about the novel before deciding whether it should be removed from a school reading list. Entries are due September 1.
• My Nom de Peen: The Surprising Effects of a Male Psuedonym via The Hairpin: an author finds that her adoption of a male pseudonym not only changes her work’s reception by the public, it also affects her own opinion of it.
• In ‘The Little Engine That Could’ Some See an Early Feminist Hero via NPR: on the feminist merits of the classic children’s story.
• The Lowest Difficulty Setting in Action  via author John Scalzi’s blog: “Even as much as your life blows, straight white dude, the black dude in exactly the same situation is likely to have it worse.”

• Transgender Teens Take Center Stage via YALSA’s The Hub: includes recently published and forthcoming books that feature characters of all genders.
• Mighty Girl Book List at I Think We Could Be Friends: focuses on “middle school girls from various cultures and times in history.”

This Month

• Jun 15 – Sep 7 (Los Angeles, CA): The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats

Upcoming

• Sep 21 – Sep 27 (Everywhere): Banned Books Week