Do I have a diverse bookshelf? Pt. 12: Diverse Authors
How many authors of color or authors who are a minority in your country do you have on your shelf? Reading diverse authors open our minds to understanding their experiences better as the same or different to ours. It also supports indie publishing houses, and it can encourage us to research outside the book—like a historical events, important people—or even finding more art about them!
My blog posts have obviously already included authors who identify as minorities and people of color from the USA. So for this post, I’m going to try to pick American authors on my shelf who fit this category who haven’t gotten a mention yet.
How We Became Human< by Joy Harjo
As one of our contemporary poet laureates, Harjo is a poet who also is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. This is a collection of her work across the decades. Fun fact: I saw her read in person, and she tends to recite her poetry like jazz.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
This is generally a mainstay of high school curriculums, and yet it still gets censored. It’s about Esperanza, a Chicana (girl of Mexican descent in the USA), and her life as she grows up dealing with culture, inequality and class in Chicago.
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
Most people think of The Joy-Luck Club when they think of Amy Tan, but I liked this book better. Olivia is American-born Chinese while her older sister Kwan-Li was born and raised in China. The book is about Olivia and how she learns to navigate and come to peace with her disparate cultural identities. This is a very common struggle from children of immigrants who are born in the USA.
My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas
Don’t let names deceive you! Thomas is truthfully a Chinese-born woman who emigrated to the USA as a teenager. She’s classified as a romance novelist, but I recommend you pick up her Lady Sherlock series no matter what! This book was my first introduction to her work. He was a British spy in the late 1800s in Chinese Turkestan. She was a Chinese spy. They meet. They fall in love. A misunderstanding tears them apart. They meet again many years later in London where she’s on a mission to steal from a museum.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
I didn’t realize Nafisi is a US citizen until I was looking for books for another post. So I’m adding her here. This is a memoir about her life as a college professor in the Islamic Republic of Iran before she was expelled. A fascinating look into a different culture, what I remember most is how culture shapes how we act, and yet lessons and meanings from books not of our culture can still have meaning.
Bonus Books:
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
If you’re not a poetry reader but want to be, this is a great first book. Kaur is Canadian by way of India, which meant she didn’t fit the criteria for this post. But this book is excellent so I had to share.
Salt by Nayyirah Waheed
I don’t know this poet’s nationality so I couldn’t list her. But I just devoured her two books. Nejma is the other.
My blog posts have obviously already included authors who identify as minorities and people of color from the USA. So for this post, I’m going to try to pick American authors on my shelf who fit this category who haven’t gotten a mention yet.
How We Became Human< by Joy Harjo
As one of our contemporary poet laureates, Harjo is a poet who also is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. This is a collection of her work across the decades. Fun fact: I saw her read in person, and she tends to recite her poetry like jazz.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
This is generally a mainstay of high school curriculums, and yet it still gets censored. It’s about Esperanza, a Chicana (girl of Mexican descent in the USA), and her life as she grows up dealing with culture, inequality and class in Chicago.
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
Most people think of The Joy-Luck Club when they think of Amy Tan, but I liked this book better. Olivia is American-born Chinese while her older sister Kwan-Li was born and raised in China. The book is about Olivia and how she learns to navigate and come to peace with her disparate cultural identities. This is a very common struggle from children of immigrants who are born in the USA.
My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas
Don’t let names deceive you! Thomas is truthfully a Chinese-born woman who emigrated to the USA as a teenager. She’s classified as a romance novelist, but I recommend you pick up her Lady Sherlock series no matter what! This book was my first introduction to her work. He was a British spy in the late 1800s in Chinese Turkestan. She was a Chinese spy. They meet. They fall in love. A misunderstanding tears them apart. They meet again many years later in London where she’s on a mission to steal from a museum.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
I didn’t realize Nafisi is a US citizen until I was looking for books for another post. So I’m adding her here. This is a memoir about her life as a college professor in the Islamic Republic of Iran before she was expelled. A fascinating look into a different culture, what I remember most is how culture shapes how we act, and yet lessons and meanings from books not of our culture can still have meaning.
Bonus Books:
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
If you’re not a poetry reader but want to be, this is a great first book. Kaur is Canadian by way of India, which meant she didn’t fit the criteria for this post. But this book is excellent so I had to share.
Salt by Nayyirah Waheed
I don’t know this poet’s nationality so I couldn’t list her. But I just devoured her two books. Nejma is the other.
No comments have been added yet.
