Stuff for the Teen Age

We Need Diverse Books at BookCon 2015 by Lilian CalixJune 5, 2015

Diverse books panel at Book Con 2015 — Diverse books panel at BookCon 2015

We Need Diverse Books has created awareness thanks to social media, beginning as a hashtag that is now a successful organization. The goal of We Need Diverse Books is for diversity to become the norm by promoting "literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people." I really enjoyed the panel because it was very exciting to see so many individuals who are also excited about the need for the diverse books and the work of diverse authors. In the panel it was noted that the literary world should reflect the diversity in the world.

In order for diverse books to make a difference they must tell stories that are real. Stories that are authentic for the readers to enjoy. When writing diverse books it is important to celebrate the differences while not defining the characters by their differences. In other to do that it is important to bring out the many aspects and layers of the characters. The panelist also noted that diversity has to be thoughtful and meaningful.

Responsibility in representation of diverse character is very important so that diverse books do not create more harm than good. The characters must be represented as people. People have many different layers. Authors of diverse books must write people, their family and experiences, not stereotypes. Diversity in books requires authenticity. In addition, disability representation in diverse books is important because young people with disabilities also want to see themselves in books.

Writers are responsible for that they put out into the world. Negative representation of groups that are often stereotyped is not good for the diverse literary community. The diverse background of an author brings a different perspective their characters.

It is important to represent diverse characters honestly because creating diverse characters who are wrong creates a bigger problem in the diverse literature community.

The panelist spoke about how teachers, marketers, and librarians can promote diverse books by borrowing diverse books from the local libraries, sharing diverse books with friends and family, and by buying diverse books.

Recommendations of some diverse books: