A non-profit and a
grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates
essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote
literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.
A little over one month ago when a group of us got together and formed #WeNeedDiverseBooks, we hoped we’d be able to do enough to get the publishing industry to pay attention. We knew we’d have support, we knew people would come together and make their voices heard, but even so, the response was completely overwhelming in the best possible way.
Today, in just a few minutes, key members of our team will join Grace Lin, Matt de la Peña, and Jacqueline Woodson on a panel at BookCon called The World Agrees: #WeNeedDiverseBooks.
This month has been a whirlwind for all of us, and we are so excited to talk about how this happened, why it happened, and why it had such a powerful impact for so many people. Most importantly, we’re excited to talk about next steps. This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
It’s only just beginning.
If you’re going to be joining us at the panel, we’ll see you very soon! If you won’t be there, we hope you’ll hop on the #bookcon2014 and #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtags to follow along with those who are live-tweeting the panel. We did this together!
Hey everyone… members of our team are descending on BEA right now! The big panel is tomorrow, and the fabulous Grace Lin has designed a great handout for booksellers and librarians. This is a “cheat sheet” for selling diverse books. Please go check it out, print it, download it, and use it if you need to. As Grace Lin says in her own words:
“However, [making this sheet] wasn’t without hesitations. I was very conflicted as I felt that, perhaps, by describing the books without the multicultural label it could be construed that I was ashamed of it. That, somehow, I was afraid of these books wearing their diversity label proudly. I’m still concerned about that.
However (as I wrote on the sheet), I do feel that these books are much more than their racial identities. These are all books with universal themes and emotions that all readers can relate to. But, the racial label, unfortunately, tends to blind readers to everything else that these stories are. And, that, in the end, make the books invisible. Which is an even graver issue, in my mind.”
You can now add our #WeNeedDiverseBooks panel to the BookCon planner.
Date: Saturday, May 31
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Location: Room 1E02
Speakers: Aisha Saeed, Ellen Oh, Grace Lin, I.W. Gregorio, Jacqueline Woodson, Lamar Giles, Marieke Nijkamp, Matt de la Peña, Mike Jung
Description: After taking the Internet by storm, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign is moving forward with brand new initiatives to continue the call for diversity in children’s literature. Join the WNDB team as they share highlights of their campaign, discuss the success of grassroots activism, highlight diverse books and how everyone can diversify their shelves and talk next steps for the campaign. Ellen Oh (PROPHECY Series), Aisha Saeed (Written in the Stars, 2015), Marieke Nijkamp, founder of DiversifYA, Lamar Giles (Fake ID) and Mike Jung (Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities). Special Guests include acclaimed Authors Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Matt de la Peña (The Living) and Jacqueline Woodson (Beneath a Meth Moon). Moderated by I.W. Gregorio (None of the Above, 2015).
Keep an eye on Tumblr and Twitter for more BookCon updates. It’s almost two weeks away!
Recently, there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets like these two pieces in the NYT, CNN, EW, and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed.
Now is the time to raise our voices into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:
On May 1st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.
For the visual part of the campaign:
Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you.
The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.
However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day.
Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out.
The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.
The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1st.
On May 2nd, the second part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.
On May 3rd, 2pm (EST), the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate in the campaign! More details to come!
We hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.
