1. Why is diversity important to me?

Through Booktok, a side of Tiktok for readers, I have learned it is important to listen to marginalized voices: people who are LGBTQ+, women, people of color, those with disabilities and many more whose voices have been talked over. I have heard of numerous instances where books negatively affect people by tokenizing cultures, fetishizing sexualities, and stereotyping religions. I learned that books such as A Court of Wings and Ruin and Percy Jackson use queer characters’ pain and suffering to move the plot along. The Lunar Chronicles and Eleanor and Park appropriate Asian culture. As readers voiced their concerns around these books, I began to understand the importance of reading diverse books.

2. How diversifying my shelves has helped me

Seeing other people so deeply passionate about diversifying media led me to try books by diverse authors. Expanding what I read led me to see the world differently and understand it better. I started integrating books by people of color and queer people. I saw a whole new side of reading. I was exposed to lives and experiences that differ from mine through reading books from a non-eurocentric point of view. Because of this, I now see the importance of publishing and promoting these marginalized voices.

3. What is reading diversely?

Reading diversely is when someone primarily reads works by marginalized groups such as people of color, people who are disabled, and LGBTQ+ authors. The first step is purchasing books which show the publishers that people are interested in diverse books; it helps uplift the authors' voices. Expanding the media you consume improves empathy, abolishes stereotypes, and increases cultural sensitivity. There are hashtags such as #OwnVoices to help readers find and review diverse books on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram. Websites such as Goodreads and StoryGraph have pages dedicated to diverse books.

4. What is Project Lit?

#ProjectLit was one of the ways that I got into reading diversely. Project Lit is a network of teachers and educators who are dedicated to teaching culturally relevant material. They pick a young adult book each month, read it, and meet over zoom to discuss it. The books deal with social justice issues such as race, class, and sexuality. Project Lit doesn’t have a specific website, but they do have Twitter and Instagram accounts to promote their monthly picks. It has been a great starting point to access easy-to-read literature.

5. What is #OwnVoices?

Corinne Duyvis, a young-adult science fiction writer, coined the term #OwnVoices in 2015 on Twitter, referring to an author from an under-represented community writing about their own experiences. We can be exposed to different groups than our own and relate to them. Without reading Own Voices, we may perpetuate underlying themes of white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Own Voices give marginalized groups the opportunity to see themselves represented in books, knowing the author is similar to them. It also allows members of different groups to hear and relate to those stories. To dive deeper, I would like to compare Own Voice reviews and Non Own Voice reviews.

6. Who gets published?

From merely glancing at graphs of white, cis, and able bodies authors who were published versus LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Ace) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of color) authors who were published, there were significantly fewer LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. I want to learn more about how the publishing industry works and why it is considerably easier for a cis white person to be published. I want to know how the publishing industry is changing, and by looking at data, observe publishing in the last ten years and see if the growth is exponential or linear.

7. How can we help diversify the publishing industry?

To begin answering this question, I plan on interviewing LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and disabled reviewers. I want to discuss how everyone can do their own part to make reading more inclusive to everyone. I would like to hear marginalized voices and their opinions on problematic books, problematic authors, tokenism, and Own Voices. I also want to interview white, cis, straight, able-bodied who have diversified their reading to see how it has changed them as readers and as people. Finally, I want to take time to read through publisher’s websites to see requirements and which groups they prioritize.