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if you are asking yourself “wow, publishing has a serious diversity problem, what can I do to help fix it”
the one thing *anyone* can do is to look for gaps in their reading and preemptively try to fill them! don’t wait for a holiday or event to learn about something
the one thing *anyone* can do is to look for gaps in their reading and preemptively try to fill them! don’t wait for a holiday or event to learn about something
take a gander at google maps. drag it around and zoom in until you find a country you know absolutely nothing about. then go to wikipedia and read about the place! look at the arts & literature section! see what there is out there!
most places have a local literary tradition, or some kind of storytelling or historian tradition. see how different cultures construct and pass down narratives! repeat! after about 10 countries you will begin to realize that homogeneity is fake
you will also begin to realize that there are people writing in those countries already. several of them are in translation! or they’ve been adapted to movies! or they’ve influenced other pieces of art! go down the rabbit holes of the stuff that you find yourself drawn to
this will ripple out into looking at your shelf & going, forex, “hey, I don’t have any books by latinx authors. let me go find some to read!” very quickly you will discover that “latinx” means a billion things and encompasses dozens of countries... that you may know nothing about
repeat google maps game.
basically... cultivate a curiosity about the world, ask yourself who you haven’t read a book by, and go out and find that book, because they exist. don’t wait for it to be recommended to you. don’t restrict yourself to one genre. treat literature as a world to explore
and you will discover, time and again, that narratives you thought would have no overlap with your own actually do resonate with what you’ve experienced. hopes, fears, dreams, disappointments, even if they have different forms.
I wish you the joy of finding a book that speaks to your soul, especially if it’s written by someone of a very different background. that’s how we develop empathy and not just sympathy
of course, something like this is the long-term solution, but I hope that attitudes shift and we see ideologies take hold sooner than just “when the gatekeepers die off.”
