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For those who know me, you know I try to steer toward the positivity in things, stay away from drama, and do my absolute best in everything I do. I am the same with my family, with friends, and with business. I’m passionate about the literary industry and also when it comes to raising my children. Sometimes though, I just want to tell folks off, rant and rave, and throw up my hands in frustration. Talking it through helps at times; other times I’m too in shock to even wrap my mind around an issue. But lately I’ve been through both and keep finding myself at the OH NO THEY DIDN’T realm of things.
I have been completely pissed off over the last two weeks and while I’m pretty vocal about a lot of things, to be pissed off to this level had to take something major; especially when I didn’t get over it in a day or two, say what I had to say and move on. Shoot, I’m getting worked up now typing this up. To make matters worse, it’s not something I’ll be getting over any time soon because it affects me day-to-day on two levels. First, on the literary level. Yes, I’ve been in the literary industry coming up on a decade and I’ve done a great deal of work championing authors, supporting their efforts and getting the word out to readers and book enthusiasts alike about great Black books. In addition to the promotional side of RAWSISTAZ, I’ve done work as an editor, reviewer, and a literary agent, so I have more than one view of things. This comes in handy, yet it has fueled the flames for the most recent things happening in the literary industry.
Secondly, I am a mother and while I’m passionate about the lit world, me being a mother trumps everything else. I’d give up all of the literary stuff if I had to choose between sitting quiet over an issue or speaking out when it comes to something that affects my child(ren). Folks want to combine the two and think I’m going to sit quiet? Oh no…that is not going to happen. Mama don’t play!
What had happened was…
Bloomsbury, once again, decided that a book with a protagonist who was a POC (person of color) couldn’t have a book cover with a POC on it. Instead, once again, they published the book (Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore) with a white girl on the cover? WHAT? They did this just last year with Justine Larbalestier’s book, Liar. The internet was buzzing and Bloomsbury (in this case, their Children/YA imprint) eventually backed down and replaced the cover (for their financial benefit, no doubt). But now, here they go again with the whitewashing. What?
Excuse me…but as a mother, I am NOT trying to hear “this is a business and books with people of color on the cover don’t sell.” Because, what you’re telling me (and my daughter who loves reading) is that she is not good enough to have a cover which represents her on a book (even when the main character may look like her), that it’s normal not to see covers reflective of our diverse world (because publishers won’t make the covers match and because librarians won’t order books that do), and that you don’t respect the book buyer enough to remember the whole issue with Liar (because we didn’t forget). I’m sorry, but this is NOT ACCEPTABLE to me as a mother or as a lit industry professional. :::taking a deep breath::: How dare they!
I’m going to end here and continue this on a post on RAWSISTAZ later this week, because I am no where near done with my thoughts on this and other literary happenings. I’ve been sharing bits and pieces via threads on my Facebook account and via the RAWSISTAZ Fan Page. I would also encourage those concerned with the Bloomsbury issue to join the Readers Against WhiteWashing (RAWW) group, to buy more books with POC on the covers, to talk to librarians at the schools or in your communities and to donate books reflective of our diverse world to your child’s classroom. My children are going to be okay because I do these things already, but what about the rest of our children? This is simply not okay…
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Tee C. Royal is the founder of RAWSISTAZ Literary Group (http://www.rawsistaz.com) and its subsidiaries. She is an avid reader, freelance reviewer, editor, and literary agent residing in the suburbs of Atlanta.
Tee,
I couldn’t agree more. This whitewashing practice is not only upsetting, it’s also VERY insulting to me as a person of color. I’m trying to wrap my mind around why anyone would think doing this is okay, in this day and age. Well…I know why, but what I really want to know is WHY? I guess a change hasn’t quite come to America, after all…
This is just pathetic…..I mean I don’t know the right words to use for a situation like this which is so demeaning and insulting.
This whole ordeals saddens me on so many levels and I’m not even a mother yet. In this day and age you would think their low level of thinking would be gone or at least hidden. The ironic thing is the name, Nimira, doesn’t make me think of the race portrayed on the cover, so do they think no one can see into that. Oh and how is this justified to the author? Do the authors not have a final say in their covers?
DearAuthor.com covered this. It was one of the more interesting race discussions in Romanceland.
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/01/19/is-bloomsbury-hanging-out-the-whites-only-sign/
They are getting much better as far as that goes.
Comments had to be closed eventually, but still.
I’m with you 100%, Tee.
Now what can we do about it? I’m into taking action.
Dee
This is insulting and very upsetting. This practice is unbelieveable and to think that today something like this is going on.
It is unbelievable and proof to those who think racism is dead that it is alive and well. We are going to have to stop patronizing those who don’t value us or what we bring. We have a great deal of buying power and now is the time to exercise it~
Well-said, Tee. I share your feelings re this subject. Whitewashing is simply not.okay. Our children deserve better, the authors whose works are being misrepresented deserve better and the literary world as a whole deserves better.
Unfortunately this has been an issue with book covers for years. One of the biggest complaints of authors – they feel they have no say on what the covers look like. Over the years publishers have changed and started asking for input from the authors, but most time they put what they want on the covers.
When the AA books came out, readers wondered if the person who designed the books read a description of the book. They just put an AA couple on the front and sent it out. I learned a long time ago that cover never matched the inside.
Maybe we all messed up by not saying anything when the first cover didn’t match. I guess we were so happy to have books we didn’t care.
The first time, they correct their error. With this situation, they have basically said we really don’t care what you want.
Now the question to ourselves is do we want to do business with people who don’t think the reader’s opinion matters? Will this hurt the authors of these books, yes? However I’m learning if you keep your mouth closed it means you agree with the problem.
Are we going to keep our mouths closed?
Publishers do this because they believe (and to a certain degree they’re right) that books by black authors don’t cross over easily.
Books by black authors don’t cross over because most of them are segregated in the African American section of many bookstores.
Until writers of color DEMAND an end to bookstore segregation, this will continue to happen. You have no one to blame but yourselves.
Tee C., thanks for sharing this. Wow, this is just disappointed to hear.
Monica, thanks for posting the Dear Author link. Some interesting comments made over there.