CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Winding Down the February Discussion
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Ilene Wong <ilene.wong_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 21:22:29 -0500
Dear all,
Chiming in at the end of this incredible, galvanizing discussion to say thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Sarah, for her excellent summary, which I have distributed to a group Dhonielle Clayton and I are part of, comprised of 2015 debut authors writing diverse books. Our group is still in the process of coming up with a name, mission and game plan, but these CCBC conversations have been so very helpful as we start building up our infrastructure. Thank you to Cheryl Klein and the other members of the CBC diversity committee, whose presentation at ALA midwinter led me to these forums.
As an Asian-American author whose first book was turned down by three separate editors because "it was too similar to another book [with an Asian-American main character] on their list," this topic is near and dear to my heart. I've had a couple of writer friends have similar difficulties selling their novels with POC characters, and one of them was frustrated to the point where she said "from now on I'm writing about white people." I'm sure she was to some extent joking, but even in retrospect the words make me uneasy, because in a way I chose to do just that with my second book, which tackles gender diversity rather than racial/ethnic diversity. My WIP does have a POC main character, but I go into that project with a sense that I need to do better job of differentiating my story from "similar titles" this time around.
What has become clear in the course of these discussions is that they key to creating more a diverse body of children's books is *collaboration*. The chain of effort required to bring POC stories into the hands of readers is long, and involves writers (both pre-pubbed and established), agents, editors, librarians, booksellers, teachers, marketers and more.
I hope that no one here minds if our group comes to you at some point in the future (perhaps in your open announcement period), as we brainstorm ways to continue the active diversification of children's literature.
Yours, Ilene Wong
a.k.a I.W.Gregorio NONE OF THE ABOVE (Balzer & Bray / Harper 2015) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18754711-none-of-the-above www.iwgregorio.com
_at_iwgregorio
==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to...
digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to...
==== CCBC-Net Archives ==== The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at...
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to...
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
...and enter the following when prompted...
username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts
Received on Sun 02 Mar 2014 08:23:21 PM CST
Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 21:22:29 -0500
Dear all,
Chiming in at the end of this incredible, galvanizing discussion to say thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Sarah, for her excellent summary, which I have distributed to a group Dhonielle Clayton and I are part of, comprised of 2015 debut authors writing diverse books. Our group is still in the process of coming up with a name, mission and game plan, but these CCBC conversations have been so very helpful as we start building up our infrastructure. Thank you to Cheryl Klein and the other members of the CBC diversity committee, whose presentation at ALA midwinter led me to these forums.
As an Asian-American author whose first book was turned down by three separate editors because "it was too similar to another book [with an Asian-American main character] on their list," this topic is near and dear to my heart. I've had a couple of writer friends have similar difficulties selling their novels with POC characters, and one of them was frustrated to the point where she said "from now on I'm writing about white people." I'm sure she was to some extent joking, but even in retrospect the words make me uneasy, because in a way I chose to do just that with my second book, which tackles gender diversity rather than racial/ethnic diversity. My WIP does have a POC main character, but I go into that project with a sense that I need to do better job of differentiating my story from "similar titles" this time around.
What has become clear in the course of these discussions is that they key to creating more a diverse body of children's books is *collaboration*. The chain of effort required to bring POC stories into the hands of readers is long, and involves writers (both pre-pubbed and established), agents, editors, librarians, booksellers, teachers, marketers and more.
I hope that no one here minds if our group comes to you at some point in the future (perhaps in your open announcement period), as we brainstorm ways to continue the active diversification of children's literature.
Yours, Ilene Wong
a.k.a I.W.Gregorio NONE OF THE ABOVE (Balzer & Bray / Harper 2015) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18754711-none-of-the-above www.iwgregorio.com
_at_iwgregorio
==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to...
digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to...
==== CCBC-Net Archives ==== The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at...
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to...
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
...and enter the following when prompted...
username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts
Received on Sun 02 Mar 2014 08:23:21 PM CST
