Not Every Book by a BIPOC Author is a Diverse Book

I realize this may ruffle a feather or two but a book is not automatically a “diverse book” just because it’s written by an author of color. Before I continue let me very clearly and unequivocally state that we need books by BIPOC authors, and we should continue to support books by Black and Brown authors. But every single book written by such an author doesn’t and/or shouldn’t automatically be considered a “diverse” book, e.g. belong on a “diverse voices” bookshelf or whatever.

First of all, because it’s offensive. What do you mean a coming of age story by a white author belongs in a coming of age section of the book store, and that same coming of age story by an Asian American author goes on an “Asian Voices” shelf?

Consider this perspective from librarian/historian/author Alexandria Brown:

“Labeling books by or about BIPOC is to declare them different because of who they are and that they are only interesting because of how they contrast with whiteness. Labeling does not celebrate diversity but instead centers whiteness as the norm and relegates BIPOC-ness to the abnormal, thereby reinforcing white supremacy.”
Alexandria Brown (source)

(More on this in a future post!)

Second of all, it’s also questionable whether that author is writing for a diverse audience, or if they’re just writing to a WHITE audience. Consider: what actually makes a book Desi (or diverse in whatever way) is the writing of the world/setting that situates the reader in that world’s culture and normas without stopping to explain every one of them (why someone is putting on mehndi before a wedding / touching an elder’s feet / wearing a bindi / eating with their hands)… this is to say, the book isn’t written for the white gaze.

The assumption of whiteness isn’t just a burden that JUST readers have to carry, it’s also happening on the writing side (and of course, on the publishing side—more on that in a moment).

When an author is over-explaining every cultural detail, it’s likely because they’re writing for an imagined white audience, rather than just letting the story’s world and cultural context just be.

Yes, a story needs to situate its reader in the world, but (1) what happened to “show, don’t tell” (!!?!) and (2) WHAT ABOUT JUST LETTING READERS FIGURE THINGS OUT?! (Or Google them).

I’m speaking directly to authors here, but just as much, I’m speaking to readers: We should absolutely keep supporting BIPOC authors, but lets hold our books (and yourself if you’re an author) to a standard in which stories aren’t overexplaining everything.

And of course, all of this ties back to the problem of the nature of traditional publishing in the West: It’s largely for white readers, centers white authors, and centers white stories. So when the industry does try to do the ~right thing~ and branch out into diverse voices, which is GREAT btw, the story is still often expected to be mainstream-friendly. Which is to say, it’s explained enough that a white audience can follow along without feeling alienated.

Which is why everything feels like nothing ever changes, even when bookshelves seem to offer more diversity. It’s like that Margaret Atwood quote:

A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.
Margaret Atwood

The reality is that BIPOC authors may be pressured (whether explicitly by publishers/editors), or subtly (even just through social influence and/or the desire to sell copies) to over-explain their own culture until it’s digestible,*

*and therefore overly chewed up before we even put it in our mouths.

(This whole thing btw reminds me of that same instinct behind the whole thing that Netflix shows allegedly are intentionally re-explaining their own plot every ten minutes because of the view that the audience is probably on their phone).

One of the causes of our current state of affairs goes even beyond readers and authors starts with, as always, the industry itself. As Thomas Gebremedhin (vp/exec editor at Doubleday) puts it:

It is essential that our conversations surrounding the dearth of people of color in publishing attempt to highlight our dimension as well as the full and complicated scope of the crisis in the industry. It is equally important to consider the lack of Black and Brown junior publicists or production assistants as it is to consider the careers of Black executives. Because the junior positions in publishing comprise the unsung heroes of the grand project of bookmaking.
Thomas Gebremedhin (source)

If you’re a reader, like… don’t you want to be dropped off in another world so you can understand it by experiencing it? Isn’t that what reading is FOR?

And so, my CTA for you. If you want a book that actually feels DIFFERENT, as opposed to just not just marketed as diverse, I beseech you to seek out authors who aren’t over-explaining the world they’re writing from and/or who aren’t writing for the imagined white gaze. (Plug: like… The River’s Daughter for instance).

Extra credit…