Diversity (Part One)

In YA, diversity is stepping into the spotlight, and it's wonderful. Instantly, books like WING JONES, THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR, A QUIET KIND OF THUNDER, SHADES OF MAGIC (series) come to mind, all for different reasons.

A lot of people think that diversity only means cultural, that inputting a random character of a different race makes their book diverse. (If you're going to have a POC, don't just put them in the background where they have one line or only show for two chapters just to say you have diversity in your book.) But it's not just having POC in their work. It's having LGBTQ (honestly there's so many letters on that phrase now so I'm sorry if I missed any out, please correct me) characters, it's exploring asexuality because there's barely any representation of that. For me, A QUIET KIND OF THUNDER, was the first contemporary YA where the two protagonists were diverse. Rhys was deaf; Steffie dealt with severe anxiety and was a selective mute. As someone who can identify with deafness and anxiety, that was important. It wasn't just a side character with these issues; they took the story in their hands and owned it.

As a reader, I've noticed that diversity is more embraced in contemporary YA in terms of same-sex couples. So reading Victoria Schwab's SHADES OF MAGIC series and seeing characters like Rhy and Alucard made me feel hope that a lot more fantasy writers will be inspired by that and embrace wider sexuality in their books. I think that a lot of people think that only diverse authors can write diverse stories, because they know first-hand. It helps, I'm sure, but with that logic, there would only be a lot of white characters and stories, which would get boring and ignorant. Not all books need to feature blond haired, blue-eyed females, and ripped, white males with over-described beautiful hair. Many more diverse authors themselves are being embraced in the author world--and not just culturally--and Twitter events like DVPIT get to bring that to light. For me, one of the best books I read this year was WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, written by Sandhya Menon, and I was asked why I wanted to read a book that was about Indian characters and their culture, when I'm from the UK and I'm white.

Here's the simple answer: because I'm not closed-minded, and I'm not ignorant when, embarrassingly, too many white people are. Because I want to see and learn about other cultures, and I want that to be embraced widely not only in fiction but in general. I got told that diversity should be earned, like it's not just a humane thing. But we live in this world that's so hell-bent on disliking anything different and it's such a destructive, hateful to live. So little by little, I like to think at least the world of YA can start inspiring a change in looking at the world and becoming equals, no matter what colour a person is or whether someone likes men or women, or whether they identify with one gender or another, or none at all.

Too many people are more focused on being closed-minded rather than appreciating the opportunities diversity brings. Some people would rather ignore a book because the main character is  a POC than think about the writing inside, than think about the amazing exposure this brings so many people that have been waiting for their chance to have characters they can relate to.

Where are all the books about shy teens discovering their sexuality in high school where everything is scary and awkward, needing help or support to lead the way by example? Sometimes fiction is self-help; sometimes it's a teacher that people seek out not just for enjoyment. Sometimes, it's a comfort when readers are scared and they need a book to help them, to advise when nobody else will. Even down to mental health, some new writers are scared to include it to the extent most mental health issues are, because too many people sneer at the imperfection of it, "why would you want to read things like that? Don't you want happy stories?" (What, so people with mental health issues can never feel a sliver of happiness? Okay, whatever.) Yet this should be embraced because it's human. Too many people mentally suffer to not have relatable characters in books, too many people are beautifully different to go without representation.