CCBC-Net Archives

Re: Multicultural Statistics for 2013

From: Claudia Pearson <pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 10:33:06 -0600 (GMT-06:00)
Rosanne, you ask some interesting questions, and may find this Lee&Low blog discussion among agents informative. Agents are often gatekeepers for the big publishers who have closed their doors to unagented submissions - one of the reasons so many writers (not just non-whites) are becoming discouraged and turning to self-publishing - and their approach affects both the quality and quantity of what reaches the editors.

I especially like Adriana Dominguez's comments about how "diversity" is defined and her proactive approach to finding multicultural talent.

http://blog.leeandlow.com/2013/11/06/literary-agents-discuss-the-diversity-gap-in-publishing/

The industry as a whole depends on word of mouth referals, from the bookshelf to the librarians who review and recommends book, to the educators and school book panels who select books students study in school (recall please the banning of Matt de la Pena's books), to the agents and editors and booksellers and marketing committees, and back to the bookshelf and the librarians who review and recommend the books. The problem with word of mouth is that people tend to only know and recommend what they are exposed to.

To expand the scope of what is known, to break the pattern of bias, we all need to take a proactive approach to identify more non-whites with talent to bring into the industry, from top to bottom. Not just more writers and illustrators, in fact I think there is a huge talent pool out there already which has not yet been fully tapped and is being siphoned off into the self-publishing channel, but also working at Barnes & Noble, buying books and stocking the shelves, putting their favorite books face-out, in libraries and classrooms and on review and award panels, in the ranks of agents and editors and marketing and publishing,  

Claudia Pearson


-----Original Message-----
From: Rosanne Parry
Sent: Feb 3, 2014 6:39 PM
To: ccbc-net
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Multicultural Statistics for 2013

Perhaps I am a habitual optimist but the thing I find very encouraging is the three fold increase in books by Native American authors and a substantial uptick in books with Native American content. I see looking at the longer history that the number of books with Native American characters has decreased pretty dramatically over time but I'm thrilled to see that this is the strongest year since records have been kept for Native American authors of children's fiction.Certainly we have a very long way to go but I think it's as important to notice progress as it is to notice continued deficit. 

So I'd love to hear from publishers and editors who put out books by authors of color. Where did you find that author? Was that author tied into SCBWI or some other writers organization? Did they have an MFA? Did they win a contest or fellowship? Was that contest or fellowship particularly geared toward finding writers of color?

For writers of color I'd love to hear what helped or hindered your way. Did you have a mentor? Did an author visit your school when you were a child? Were there other writers or artists in your family or immediate community? If you are a white writer from a rural area or a low income household I'd be curios to hear if your experiences are the similar.  

Statistics are one kind of helpful information but story is just as helpful.

Thanks for all your work in putting the numbers together and providing the forum for this conversation.

Rosanne Parry

Written in Stone, 2013
Second Fiddle, 2011
Heart of a Shepherd, 2009



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Received on Tue 04 Feb 2014 10:38:19 AM CST