Supporting Writers of Color
Supporting Writers of Color
I recently went to the first annual Dominican writers conference in New York and one of the sessions I attended was about getting published. The biggest take away from that session for me was how the majority of editors are white women and that it's an industry driven by book sales. The speaker said that if we want to see more stories of people of color getting published then we need to buy brand new books from authors of color.
Growing up I didn't have much access to books by latino authors. I didn't have the money to buy them or the exposure to even know what to buy. It wasn't until I got to high school that I was first exposed to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julia Alvarez, Helena Maria Villamontez and Rudolfo Amaya. The first novel by a latino author I ever read was Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno and this was through Spanish class. Niebla was such a beautiful and deep novel I'll never forget it. I started reading books in Spanish sporadically it was difficult because of all the required reading in my english classes that was not by latinos. In college I took a couple classes though the Latin American studies department with the wonderful professor Silvio Torres Saillant. I loved those classes- I took every class I could with him. I learned a lot about Dominican, Caribbean and Latin American history and was introduced to many latino authors. I was blown away with Junot Diaz then. The most wonderful part was seeing myself reflected on the pages of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Now more then ever latino authors are getting platforms and book deals and we need to support them. As a writer myself it matters also to give to those who are on their publishing journey.
Now over the years through donorschoose I've done campaigns to bring books by more diverse authors into my classroom and in this way have supported the authors. But I buy a lot of books used. I didn't realize that when you buy them used authors don't see the royalties from those purchases. I've decided to spread the word about the importance of supporting authors of color through buying brand new books and some other ways to support them as well.
I recently went to the first annual Dominican writers conference in New York and one of the sessions I attended was about getting published. The biggest take away from that session for me was how the majority of editors are white women and that it's an industry driven by book sales. The speaker said that if we want to see more stories of people of color getting published then we need to buy brand new books from authors of color.
Growing up I didn't have much access to books by latino authors. I didn't have the money to buy them or the exposure to even know what to buy. It wasn't until I got to high school that I was first exposed to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julia Alvarez, Helena Maria Villamontez and Rudolfo Amaya. The first novel by a latino author I ever read was Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno and this was through Spanish class. Niebla was such a beautiful and deep novel I'll never forget it. I started reading books in Spanish sporadically it was difficult because of all the required reading in my english classes that was not by latinos. In college I took a couple classes though the Latin American studies department with the wonderful professor Silvio Torres Saillant. I loved those classes- I took every class I could with him. I learned a lot about Dominican, Caribbean and Latin American history and was introduced to many latino authors. I was blown away with Junot Diaz then. The most wonderful part was seeing myself reflected on the pages of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Now more then ever latino authors are getting platforms and book deals and we need to support them. As a writer myself it matters also to give to those who are on their publishing journey.
Now over the years through donorschoose I've done campaigns to bring books by more diverse authors into my classroom and in this way have supported the authors. But I buy a lot of books used. I didn't realize that when you buy them used authors don't see the royalties from those purchases. I've decided to spread the word about the importance of supporting authors of color through buying brand new books and some other ways to support them as well.
I just ordered Elizabeth Acevedo’s new book With the Fire on High. Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican young adult novels writer. I loved her first novel The Poet X and I am trying to support her. I know a lot of people who talk about wanting books by more diverse authors but we need to put our money where our mouth is. How can you do that?
1. Buy new books from diverse authors because if you buy them used the authors don’t get royalties
2. If we can go out support movies with diverse casts we need to go out and support our authors of color
3. don’t lend your books to your friends have them buy their own or gift it to them as Christmas or birthday presents
4. If you can’t afford to buy new books go to the library with a group of friends and request these books because they have a budget and can afford to order these books.
5. If you are a teacher create donorschoose projects around bringing more diverse books to your classroom. I have gotten at least 4 projects funded for books written by people of color about our experiences
2. If we can go out support movies with diverse casts we need to go out and support our authors of color
3. don’t lend your books to your friends have them buy their own or gift it to them as Christmas or birthday presents
4. If you can’t afford to buy new books go to the library with a group of friends and request these books because they have a budget and can afford to order these books.
5. If you are a teacher create donorschoose projects around bringing more diverse books to your classroom. I have gotten at least 4 projects funded for books written by people of color about our experiences
I hope you can join me on this journey because we need more diverse voices, experiences and perspectives in literature.
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