Hey lovelies! Lately there's been a lot of talk about how to promote diversity in publishing. How can we get more diverse books into stores? How can we see our favorite diverse authors at conferences? WHAT DO WE DO?!
Well guess what? A new and fabulous campaign is starting, called "We Need Diverse Books," and we'd love for you to join us! Check out the post below, and join us May 1st-3rd for lots of exciting ways to help promote diversity!
Recently, there’s been a groundswell
of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is
being picked up by news outlets like these two pieces in the NYT, CNN,
EW,
and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a
disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries
of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity,
nothing changed.
Now is the time to raise our voices
into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:
On May 1st at 1pm
(EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re
starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks.
We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere
they can to help make the hashtag go viral.
For the visual part of the
campaign:
- Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse
books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an
important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is
important to you.
- The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants
to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without
you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you
want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite
library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.
- However you want to do it, we want to share it! There
will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that
will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit
your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo”
or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day.
- Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting
and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you
think will help get the word out.
- The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will
be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get
enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice
of more media outlets.
- The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the
length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion
going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions
even after May 1st.
On May 2nd, the second
part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST)
using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd
and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why
diversity matters to you.
On May 3rd, 2pm (EST),
the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify
Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their
mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves
is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and
libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate
in the campaign! More details to come!
We hope that you will take part in
this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it
will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So
that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets
the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us
by being a part of this movement.
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