Tell Me Something Tuesday was hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings, but she has (temporarily?) stopped blogging. So a group of us that had been doing posts (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Karen from For What It’s Worth, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About and me) decided to get together, come up with some more topics and keep the meme going.Michelle made us a logo and we’re off and running. For more details, check out this post where I reintroduced the meme.
I can be sporadic, but when I do join in I will always share next week’s topic at the end of the post. So, today is about…
Favorite books by authors of color
I love that we’re trying to recognize authors of color! And it’s Black History month, so a great time to recognize them. I just suck at knowing if my authors are White, Black, Indian, Native American, etc. And on one hand, I feel like that’s a good thing, I shouldn’t be picking out books based on the color of the author’s skin. BUT, celebrating authors of color is a socially responsible thing to do and I need to do better at it.
On the other hand, as a person of color, I know that there is no such thing as color blind. I also know that being raised by a black father and white mother, at a time where it was very unusual to be mixed, had a huge impact on my racial identity. I’ve never been black enough for the black community and certainly not white enough for the white community. So for me, this question is incredibly charged and makes me dig deep into my own very stressed racial identity.
And I won’t say that I’m shocked that after spending some time looking up authors of color that I struggled to find any that I’ve enjoyed. Because of the above, characters and communities of color can be difficult for me to read. And then I have to ask, why don’t I have that same problem with white characters/communities? I don’t know, I’m sure that’s one for me to discuss with my therapist.
All that to say, here are the only authors of color that I’ve both read and enjoyed (that I know of, at least):
- Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Tahereh Mafi – Shatter Me series
Thanks for sharing your prospective, Berls. As a White, cis woman, I have been making a concerted effort to read more authors of color and #ownvoice authors, not only to expand myself and perspective, but also to support authors who have traditionally struggled getting published.
I also have no real idea of how many of the books I read are written by poc… I only look up an author if I’m doing a book tour or something. 🙁
I definitely should be paying more attention. Something to work on this year, I think.
That sounds like a tricky situation. On a level, I understand wanting to read for escapism, which is probably much easier with White authors. I hope you’ll find the perfect books that reflect your Black roots/mixed race identity without causing you stress!
I always meant to try Shatter me, arghh, one day!
Yes, you do have a unique perspective. My background would be considered white, but I’ve got my Sicilian dad’s darker skin and features so I get mistaken for anything from Mexican to Syrian and can’t understand a word they’re saying, LOL. I just go with it and shrug that I’m a monolinguistic American mutt like most Americans.
In the past, I didn’t pay attention to the author’s race and like you couldn’t have said most of the time, but Shari asked me to make a list since I read more than she does so she could discover more AOC and read intentionally so I combed through my reading stacks and discovered that I’d done better than I imagined just by snagging what caught my eye without even trying- not that I can’t do better. I do have another list I started of books I’ve seen recommended that I should read or think sound good so I can be more intentional.
Most often I don’t even pay attention to who the author is or what their ethnicity is. But for those that I know are POC, my favorite would be Kennedy Ryan. She is an amazing story teller and seems to be a pretty awesome person, too. Always so upbeat and positive.
Oh I’ve read Kennedy Ryan. Had no idea she was a POC! See, I knew I was missing some I’ve read.
A few years ago I decided to allocate some of my book reading specifically to reading and sharing books by Black women authors and POC authors. Some of my favorite reads of the last couple of years are Alyssa Cole- How to Catch a Queen, Justina Ireland -Dread Nation, The Year of Witching by Alexis Henderson, Slay by Brittney M. Morris, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, and Swee Talkin Lover by Tracey Livesay. I also really liked Rebecca Roanhouse’s book Trail of Lighting. Oh and Eve Ewing’s amazing poetry is great too! I got a couple of Beverly Jenkins books for Christmas so I”ll be reading those , and The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johson is on my TBR. OH plus I’m reading Murder in G Major for a book club in March. 🙂
Awesome list. Several are already on my TBR list already, added a few more. I really should try to make every 5th book I read or soemthing be by a POC. I know they’re on my TBR!
I’ve been making more of an effort over the last couple of years to read more books by POC. I don’t know if it’s because I’m paying more attention, or if there really is a lot more out there than there used to be.
And I totally agree that growing up mixed is….different. Never quite fitting in. And no one ever figures out “what” I am on their own. :-/
Ditto! People usually guess Hispanic, especially since I married a Mexican. I want to make more of an effort, I’m realizing I have lots on my TBR – I think there are more out there than there used to be.
I’ve highly enjoyed books by Diantha Jones and Inger Iversen in the past but they don’t really publish books anymore 🥺
I haven’t heard of them, but will look them up!