Last Week In Books: What is Diversity, Really?

Let’s just get right to the bookish news for this week.

• This report on the state of diversity in publishing came out a month ago, but is forever relevant when it comes to this blog.[Book Riot]
• Speaking of diversity, however, I found myself very pleasantly challenged by fellow Bookstagrammer desibookaunty‘s question “Why do we still use or amplify diversity discourse?” As she says: “Rather than leveraging “diversity” to gain admittance to exclusive publishing spaces, we might try recentering on our own brave & expansive stories”. I use “diversity” as a catch-all term here because I want people who are not mainstream cis-straight American white folk to find this blog, but I’ve been thinking about the efficacy of diversity as a term for a while and her post challenged me to keep thinking. [Instagram]
• Haruki Murakami has a new novel coming about. Apparently, it’s about…well, we have no idea, but it’s mysterious, which is peak Murakami and to be expected. [Literary Hub]
• And now for something completely different; I wrote a short story about a spaceship full of Black folk called “Mothership Connection”, and it got published in khoreo. You can find it in the magazine or in audio format on their podcast. TIA for the listen/read! [khoreo magazine]
• Speaking of short stories, Samantha Mills‘ “Rabbit Test” is one of the few things I’ve read that made me sit back and say “wow” after reading. It’s an incredible piece and a good reminder that we need to do something about reproductive justice in America now. Go read this. [Uncanny Magazine]
• I’ve been a member of the Haymarket Book Club for a while and I’m proud to see my little monthly dollars are supporting a publisher that takes a definitive stand against the Florida book bans and the attempted bowdlerization of history, with a little help from…Colin Kaepernick? Actually, that tracks. [Publisher’s Weekly]
• I’ve posted this already on Facebook, but I’m going to post it again here because it’s SO good; a booklist of classic feminist African novels, including works by Mariama Ba, Buchi Emeketa, and Nawal El-Sadaawi. [Brittle Paper]
• Last link for this week, and it’s a good one; The New York Times published a thoughtful reflection on the Black literary canon that name-drops all of the greats–the ones you’ve heard of and the ones you should have. [The New York Times]

Thanks for reading, beautiful people. Quick reminder to check out the Equal Opportunity Bookshop, where your purchases earn commissions that keep this blog drowning in pages and paragraphs. Peace!