Why Diversify?

There is a lot of debate in publishing centred around author authenticity and the need for sensitivity readers when authors are writing about things which are not their ived experience. A recent example of this was last year, when Jamie Oliver's children's book was withdrawn from publication because it featured an inigenous Australian child living in foster care and with magic powers. Whilst I have no doubt there was absolutely no malicious intent on Oliver's part, even a basic level of research into the subject should have thrown up enought questions to make him ask, 'should I be writing this?' It is also a massive failure on the part of the pubishers that this wasn't flagged up at any stage of editing. It is precisely for this reason that authors need to be (at the very least) aware of potential issues in their work. It is also the reason why is is important for publishing houses to have a diverse range of authors on their books.

However, the argument often put forward is that there is not as big a market for such books and therefore, as they are less profitable, publishing companies on the whole are less inclined to publish them. I believe books have immense value in teaching us to view the world from a different perspective to our own. It was through reading fiction that I realised what a skewed version of history I had been taught at school. I have also used books by authors from particular communities to educate myself on matters of race, gender and sexuality. Without these books, I would still be living in a world I viewed solely from my own point of view and whilst it might have been a more comfortable world, it is not real.

I want to stretch my horizons, I want my view of society to be challenged, I want to read about life experiences which are different to my own. I genuinely believe that the only way to do this is to read books which are authentic. Therefore, I do my best to ensure that over the course of the year I read plenty of books by authors who are not white, heterosexual, middle-class, Western women. However, whilst this is a conscious decision I've made, it is not just a tick box exercise. I give careful consideration to the books I choose - if the plot doesn't appeal as well, then I'm reading them for all the wrong reasons.

So, if you want to diversify your bookshelves, but you're not sure where to start, here are a few suggestions of authors to try. I guarantee you'll find books you enjoy and they might just challenge you to think a little bit differently as well.

My introduction to Shamsie's work was this book, which is a modern re-telling of Sophocles' Antigone. The concept of how people become involved in terrorism is at its heart and it caused me to rethink the quite black and white views presented in the media. Since then, I have read several more of her books and loved them all. They are not always comfortable reads but are superbly told stories.

Although she is probably better known for Queenie, this is my favourite of Carty-Williams' books. A disparate group of siblings come together and find they have more in common than they first thought, when they are presented with a problem to solve. It really explores the relationship between the siblings and questions how far people will go to protect family.

This is another book which explores the dynamics of sibling relationships. When they are complicated by different lifestyle choices that don't necessarily correspond to the upbringing of said siblings, the potential for fireworks is massive. However, things are rarely as simple as they seem and in exploring what makes the others tick, the characters learn things about themselves along the way. One incident speaks to the authenticity of this book - there is something that happens that I was so convinced was based on a real event that I spent hours trawling the internet, trying to work out when I'd read about it before. It was invented. But it could so easily have been real. Full review of this book can be found here.

Like many of Cummins' fans, I was introduced to her work by American Dirt, the story of children escaping the drugs war via illegal routes into America. That gave many people a different perspective on illegal immigration. This book had the same impact on me, but with regards to Ireland. I knew the treatment of the Irish lower classes by English landowners had been had, but I had no concept of quite how inhumane it had been. This was one of those 'that's not how we were taught it at school' moments I referred to. 'A Rip In Heaven' shows how much influence the media has on our perceptions when people are accused of a crime - it's quite scary.

Although this was by no means the first LGBTQ book I read, I think it stands out as one of the best examples of allowing the heterosexual reader to really understand the prejudices and difficulties the LGBTQ community have to overcome. Much of the book is told by the narrator - a communal voice of the gay generation who lived under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic. Their observations are heartbreaking and astute - I'm just a little bit too young to remember it properly, but this book really brought home so many of the injustices of the time. It also points out that whilst change has happened, there is still a long way to go in gaining true equality.

Of course, I doubt very much that any of these books were written with the idea of changing how people think and I can only speak from personal experience and anecdotes from friends, but it has always been the case that as a species we learn through the medium of storytelling. These are all excellent authors in and of themselves, the books simply have the added bonus that perhaps we can learn something from them as well.