As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of the next, we tend to face two directions, reflecting on events past and looking forward to the future. The Roman god Janus comes to mind! In the past few months discussion about ethnic diversity in books has come to the fore, with a certain amount of scrutiny of the publishing world and what could be done to ensure that more books are made available by writers of color. If you haven’t already done so, take some time to read Laura Atkins’ paper on “white privilege in children’s publishing” from this summer’s IRSCL conference, as well as the many in-depth comments attached to it. It may have been written three months ago but these are issues that are not going to go away – yet!

Some writers have blogged about it more recently – Zetta Elliott (who also followed up on her post with an insightful interview of Laura, entitled From the Other Side: An Editor Speaks Out!) and Neesha Meminger have both contributed to what will no doubt be an on-going discussion. Uma Krishnaswami also commented on this (since withdrawn…) blogpost and these words really resonated with me:

there are some of us now who are trying to write beyond the boxes, beyond the simple classifications or the books that are *about* culture or race. In this time of economic stress it’s even more important to make sure we don’t slide back to old insularities!

I think we all need to make a New Year’s resolution that we won’t allow these issues to be conveniently side-tracked. On a recent visit to San Francisco I came away laden from several independent and second-hand bookshops with books that I have got to know through PaperTigers – but I found it very unsettling to say the least that in the large children’s section of an enormous chain bookshop I also visited, I could only find two books – two books!!! So there are not just issues of publishing to be contended with, but also marketing and distribution. And in these times of “economic stress” , we take our hats off to those publishers who are producing a consistently wonderful array of multicultural titles. We do need to keep the voices for diversity heard, written by a diversity of voices, which includes more writers of colour; and we need to ensure that readers from all backgrounds have access to a diverse range of reading material – because that is the only way that kids will be able to fit their own stitches into the vast multicultural tapestry of life.

Amy Bowllan at Bowllan’s Blog has a series of posts titled “Writers Against Racism,” in which she asks authors about their experiences of racism and their opinion on the ways in which literature can be used to combat its effects. The ongoing series so far includes interviews with Zetta Elliot, Mitali Perkins, David Yoo, Neesha Meminger, Tanita S. Davis, and many more. In one of the August installments, Bowllan interviewed children’s literature specialist—and PaperTigers contributor/consultant—Laura Atkins. Laura’s views on the topic are very interesting, and partly informed by years of working in the children’s publishing industry developing multicultural picture books (her insightful paper “What’s the Story? Reflections on White Privilege in the Publication of Children’s Literature,” has recently become available online).

Laura says on her blog of the “Writers Against Racism” series: “The questions and answers reveal how the personal and the political are intimately linked. Each person has their own experiences, their own stories to tell—and all of us have connected to and through literature as a way of combating racism.” I can’t imagine a more effective weapon than literature in this worthwhile battle. Can you?

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has just announced the winners of this year’s awards. I’ve spotted two of my favorite books of the past year among them: Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia (Winner, Older Readers Book of the Year) and Home and Away by John Marsden, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Honour, Picture Book of the Year). Read this rather sobering post from The Book Chook outlining the awards and highlighting possible changes afoot in Australian publishing and their potential effect on the many wonderful small independent publishers in Australia.

Just One More Book has this podcast about Ten Days and Nine Nights: An Adoption Story by Yumi Heo.

Shelf Elf has a review of Mitali Perkins‘ Secret Keeper (you can also read PaperTigers’ review here).

And read Chicken Spaghetti’s great post, “Neesha Meminger on Kids’ Books by South Asian Authors” – including Neesha’s South Asian selection of books she would add to the CCBC’s list of “50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know” – apparently soon to become 75… – Hmmm – take a look at the list and tell us what you would add…

PaperTigers is always happy to help spread the word on multicultural children’s and young adult literature events. If there is an event happening in your neighbourhood that you think would be of interest to our readers, send an email to corinne(at)papertigers(dot)org and we’ll post it on the blog. Here’s what promises to be a great event sent to us by Anjali Goyal, board member on The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC):

Beyond Gossip Girls: An Evening with Young Adult Authors Neesha Meminger and Sheba Karim

Books and films for young adults have exploded onto the scene recently with the success of the Twilight series, Gossip Girl, Harry Potter, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. How do teens of color fare amidst this explosion? What is it like to try to publish works with multicultural characters or characters of color in an industry clamoring for the next Twilight?

Join us for a reading and discussion with young adult novelists Neesha Meminger (author of Shine, Coconut Moon) and Sheba Karim (author of Skunk Girl). Meminger and Karim deal with issues ranging from the Sikh experience post 9/11 and single parenthood to body image and Muslim American identity, while providing cohesive narratives of South Asian American adolescences and their growing pains. Both authors will read from their new novels and discuss their different paths to publication and writing for a teen audience. Booksigning and reception to follow.

Wednesday, July 29 at 7pm

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
New York, New York