Race in the Industry

Publisher's Weekly recently had a post about race in the children's literature industry. The author, Elizabeth Bluemle, writes:

It is our responsibility—as people who create, produce, and distribute the lion’s share of books that reach and teach and entertain children—it is our highest calling to provide written, illustrated worlds that embrace and prioritize all children, books that resemble the playgrounds and classrooms and homes of this country and the rest of the world.

A great post to read, which features artwork from our own Kevan Atteberry, and other illustrator friends.

Another post addressing race is on She Writes. The article talks about how there is segregation among authors in bookstores. The author, The Salonniere, writes:

What's needed, of course, is a more conscious and intentional approach to diversity, not for diversity's sake, but for quality's sake.

Check out both of these posts for more on this timely issue.

Mitali Perkins keynote: Risky Business #scbwiwwa

Her subtitle is "not your mother's publishing industry," and she is starting off with a poster from the movie Risky Business. Suddenly, some people in the audience begin to feel old.

Mitali has just taught us how to say hello in Boston. Surprisingly, you don't throw a can of beans at someone when you say, "HOW YA DOIN'?" Oh, Boston, I kid.

Now Mitali is telling us about how stories, information, and art are moving from the printed page to the screen. (In related news, she tells us about the joke she kept out of her Twitter feed, but that we're putting right back in. Ahem. "iPad! It's that time of the month!")

She just mentioned the new Figment.com, where you can submit stories you write for cell phones. Check it out.

A second change: kids and teens want to personalize and interact with everything (including authors and illustrators).

Influence is shifting from traditional reviewers to trusted curators (though big-name old-media reviewers such as Roger Ebert remain powerful as they move to new media).

There's a power struggle over which stories and art get sold and how. An example: the Macmillan/Amazon.com power struggle. (Macmillan FTW!)

UNEXPECTED TRIVIA BREAK! Mitali weighed 11 pounds when she was born. They wrote newspaper articles about it. Her head had its own weather system. Also, her parents dressed her in boys' clothes.

Now Mitali is talking about coming to the United States and how it felt to be in a California middle school while living in a traditional Bengali home. Despite her efforts to achieve Farah Fawcett hair, no one talked to her at school for two months.

Her life changed when she was invited to be a lunch table Uhura. It was a transformative seventh-grade experience.

You can follow Mitali online at her blog and her twitter feed. (And if you were at the conference, you would be writing down her secrets of creating a vision statement--everyone is frantically scribbling right now.)

Writing characters of a different race

Justine Larbalestier, author of LIAR, HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY, and other novels, posted this weekend about the issues that arise when you're white and you write about a character who isn't. She has good advice on why you might do this and how to handle the inevitable criticism.

Every single book I’ve published has displeased someone. I’ve been accused of promoting teenage pregnancy, homosexuality, and underage drinking. Every single one of my books has caused at least a few people to tell me that I stuffed various things up: my descriptions of Sydney, of NYC, of mathematics (absolutely true), my Oz characters don’t speak like proper Aussies, and my USians don’t talk like proper Yanquis. My teenagers sound too young or too old and are too smart or too stupid. I did my best, but some think that was not good enough.
That’s the risk you take when you write a book.

Read the rest.

On judging a book by its cover

You might have heard the brouhaha about Justina Larbalestier's book, LIAR. Many people say the cover--of a light-skinned girl hiding behind her hair--doesn't match the protagonist, who is black.

Here's Justina's take on it, on how much say the author really has on a cover, on working with Bloomsbury, and the disturbing notion that covers with black people don't sell.

Meanwhile, here's my take on an argument a librarian made in School Library Journal that publishers should make more books with boy protagonists because boys don't want to read about girls.