DIVERSIFY OUR BOOKS

Behind the scenes this month, we began a hunt for more diversity in our reading. Here's what I can tell you--it exists, it's just not always easy to find, especially if you don't know where to look. I also think that in the past, it's been harder for writers from diverse backgrounds or writing about characters who are homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, or of color to get published; it seems like they were sidelined or told that their ideas wouldn't sell. With more and more writers taking their publishing dreams into their own hands, we're seeing the market open up and readers are finally getting more of what they want. 

Our friend, Kennedy Ryan, helped us out by providing a preliminary list of works if you're looking to try something new. 

Issa Rae - The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (non-fiction. NYT Bestseller)

Nicki Salcedo - All Beautiful Things

Alyssa Cole - Radio Silence, Agnes Moore's Wild Knight

Ambrielle Kirk - Rugged Riders series

Rebekah Weatherspoon - Treasure

Victoria Smith - The Space Between

Piper Hughley - The Lawyer's Luck

Yvette Hines - Bear's Gold

Fiona Zedde - Bliss (Af-Am/LGBT)

Yolanda Wallace - Rum Spring, The War Within (Af-Am/LGBT)

Lena Matthews - Happily Ever After

BeBe Moore Campbell - 72 Hour Hold, Your Blues Ain't Like Mine

Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God

Alice Walker - The Color Purple, Meridian

Toni Morrison - Beloved, The Bluest Eye

K.M. Jackson - Bounce and Creative Hearts series

Rhonda McKnight  -Unbreak My Heart

Pat Simmons -The Keepsake

Belle Calhoune - Heart of A Soldier

Candace Shaw - My Kind of Girl

Sheryl Lister- All of Me

Ann Christopher -Trouble

Keith Thomas Walker- Brick House

Sharon  Cooper -Sin City Temptation; Legal Seduction

Ravi Howard- Driving the King

Seressia Glass - Spice (A Sugar and Spice Novel)

Shelly Ellis - Gibbons Girls series

Prolific With A Great backlist:

Phyllis Bourne

Alisha Rai

Maureen Smith 

Farrah Rochon

Zane 

Beverly Jenkins

Rochelle Alers

There's a hashtag that has gained some momentum #BlackWomenInRomance

RT had a great feature about it:

http://www.rtbookreviews.com/blog/82364/blackwomeninromance-10-romance-authors-i-cant-wait-read-more-2015

Also Book Riot (on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr) often features articles on diversity in fiction.

If you follow us on Twitter (@mustreadbooks_), we've been retweeting WeNeedDiverseBooks and there are a TON of blogs on Tumblr making a point to diversify what we see in our reading and promoting the authors who write it.

As Courtney and I come across more great writers who feature POC and characters embracing their sexuality as the norm that we all know it is and should be treated as, we will continue to showcase these and share them with you.

We'd love to hear from you and if we handled this totally wrong, we'd love to know that too.

Happy Reading,

Shelley and Courtney