The Diversity in YA Fiction website was founded by authors Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon, to celebrate diverse stories in YA fiction. An exciting spin-off from the website, the Diversity in YA Fiction Tour is set to take place May 7 – 14 across the USA and will feature 25 authors of middle-grade and young adult fiction who just happen to have written books featuring characters who are of color or LGBT.

The idea for the tour came about last summer when the children’s literature blogosphere erupted with discussions of whitewashing book covers. In her article written for School Library Journal Malinda says:

Cindy and I are both Asian Americans, and we have never been disinterested parties in this debate. Last summer, Cindy’s first novel, Silver Phoenix, was repackaged in a way that disappointed many readers because they thought it downplayed the book’s Asian elements. At the same time, I was seeing early cover concepts from my publisher for my second novel, Huntress, which is an Asian-inspired fantasy. Believe me, it was a stressful time for both of us.

From the beginning, we shared a vision for “Diversity in YA” that emphasized celebration. Yes, the number of books published about people of color is fewer than those about white people, but there is no reason to not celebrate the books that already exist. There are so many writers telling stories about unique communities and cultures, from Jacqueline Woodson, who has been writing wonderful books about African-American and queer teens for years, to newcomer Dia Reeves, who is turning YA paranormal on its head with her quirky, bloody escapades featuring multiracial teens in Texas.

Everyone is welcome to attend this celebration of diversity, where there will be the opportunity to hail favorite books and authors, as well as to discover new ones to love. Here’s the tour schedule:

San Francisco | May 7, 2011 at 3 p.m.
Focus on Asian American YA with Cindy Pon, Gene Luen Yang, and J.A. Yang at the  San Francisco Public Library (Main Library), Latino-Hispanic Room

Austin | May 9, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
With Bethany Hegedus, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Cindy Pon, Dia Reeves, and Jo Whittemore, and moderated by Varian Johnson at BookPeople

Chicago | May 10, 2011 from 5:30-6:45 p.m.
With Claudia Guadalupe Martinez, Nnedi Okorafor, and Cindy Pon at Barbara’s Books

Boston | May 12, 2011 at 7 p.m.
With Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Deva Fagan, Cindy Pon, and Francisco X. Stork, and moderated by Roger Sutton
at the Cambridge Public Library (Main Library)

New York | May 13, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Focus on LGBT YA with Cris Beam, David Levithan, and Jacqueline Woodson at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center

New York | May 14, 2011 at 1 p.m.
With Matt de la Peña, Kekla Magoon, Neesha Meminger, Cindy Pon, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Jacqueline Woodson, and moderated by Cheryl Klein at Books of Wonder

You’re invited to take part in CROCUS 2010, Saffron Tree‘s exciting annual book festival in celebration of their anniversary. They’re turning 4 this year and have planned a week-long romp in honor of culturally diverse and unique stories. Make sure to drop by at some point between Oct 23-30 to wish them a happy anniversary and to enjoy all the special book reviews, interviews, contests and giveaways planned for the occasion. As a matter of fact, you should plan on stopping by and joining in on the fun all seven days of it!

PaperTigers’ current issue, focusing on children’s literature from India and the Indian diaspora, features personal view pieces by Saffron Tree contributors’ UTBT (Anitha Rumkumar) and Choxbox (Namrata), about Anushka Ravishankar’s books and a young readers’ series on Indian history, respectively. Check them out, on PaperTigers and at their blog! We are big fans of Saffron Tree, and all their talented and passionate contributors, and highly recommend it as a source of excellent multicultural reading material.

Poster artwork by Lavanya Karthik

Elizabeth Bluemle‘s article The Elephant in the Room, posted this week on ShelfTalker, a Publisher’s Weekly blog, offers a spot-on and constructive criticism of the publishing world’s shortcomings when it comes to publishing and promoting books that truly reflect our diverse world, pointing to the need on their part “to cast aside outdated assumptions of what people will or won’t read, will or won’t edit or publish or sell.”

The article offers suggestions of what those in the publishing field can do to start reverting the situation and doing right by our children, plus a list of blogs and websites (we were honored to see PaperTigers mentioned!) that promote diversity in children’s and young adult books. The elephant illustrations, by thirteen children’s book artists, combined with the words, give us much to reflect on.

image credit: © Addie Boswell