A little diversity, please? or, Censorship is still censorship whatever you call it.
Why I felt the need to write the open letters below: Authors Say Agents Try to “Straighten” Gay Characters in YA
Dear Publishers: I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant heterosexual, and I want to read stories about and from the viewpoints of people who are not like me. Please stop censoring my choices before I have the opportunity to make them myself. Furthermore, I firmly believe that such stories are valuable tools for young adults to explore and learn about the world around them, especially people of ethnicity, religion, and other personal and environmental characteristics differing from their own. Having the opportunity to experience "otherness" in literature before encountering it out in the world allows young adults to meet it with understanding and tolerance instead of the fear and hatred that so often springs automatically from ignorance and unfamiliarity. Therefore, I ask you to help make such stories more readily available by rejecting manuscripts solely for reasons of poor writing. Thank you.
Dear Librarians: Please see my letter to Publishers. I reiterate here the points I made there. Do you have the books on the following lists available? I would like to read them.
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Major LGBTQ characters
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Protagonists of Color, A - L
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Protagonists of Color, M - Z
Thank you.
Crossposted from http://montuos.dreamwidth.org/898609.html ;
comments on original post. If you do not have a Dreamwidth ID and you want to read comments on protected posts there, you can log in with OpenID using your LJ ID. Also, I have 17 Dreamwidth invite codes if you want one.
Dear Publishers: I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant heterosexual, and I want to read stories about and from the viewpoints of people who are not like me. Please stop censoring my choices before I have the opportunity to make them myself. Furthermore, I firmly believe that such stories are valuable tools for young adults to explore and learn about the world around them, especially people of ethnicity, religion, and other personal and environmental characteristics differing from their own. Having the opportunity to experience "otherness" in literature before encountering it out in the world allows young adults to meet it with understanding and tolerance instead of the fear and hatred that so often springs automatically from ignorance and unfamiliarity. Therefore, I ask you to help make such stories more readily available by rejecting manuscripts solely for reasons of poor writing. Thank you.
Dear Librarians: Please see my letter to Publishers. I reiterate here the points I made there. Do you have the books on the following lists available? I would like to read them.
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Major LGBTQ characters
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Protagonists of Color, A - L
Science Fiction and Fantasy YA novels with Protagonists of Color, M - Z
Thank you.
Crossposted from http://montuos.dreamwidth.org/898609.html ;
comments on original post. If you do not have a Dreamwidth ID and you want to read comments on protected posts there, you can log in with OpenID using your LJ ID. Also, I have 17 Dreamwidth invite codes if you want one.