I've been following the conversations about American Dirt and paying particular attention to the issue of bias (implicit or otherwise) that is so pervasive in the publishing industry. What's really interesting to me is that these types of really hard conversations have been...

...happening in the kidlit world for years. Those of us invested in kidlit have been talking about implicit bias in reviewing, #ownvoices and "who gets to tell which stories," authenticity, stereotypes, tropes, and loaded and evolving language for some time...

...but--with just a few notable exceptions--I've seen much fewer conversations like this on the adult literature side of the business. It's about time. And here's the thing--these types of conversations are messy and incredibly complex. But they MUST happen.

I think back to my own initial review of A Fine Dessert. I was that "nice white lady" who loved that book and saw value in it as a "teachble moment." My own implicit bias and privilege prevented me from seeing & understanding what was so harmful and wrong about it.

So I listened. I shut up & I read & watched & absorbed as much criticism & information as I could. I had to, as folks say, "sit in my own discomfort" for a while & work through some stuff, namely my own defensive, white privileged reactions.

I came out of that process a bit embarrassed & humbled, for sure. But wiser and better informed & grateful to the folks who spoke up. And mindful that this was just the surface--that I as an individual as well as the profession/industry at large has so much more work to do.

I know a lot of folks are hoping these conversations just blow over and go away. And individual "controversies" surely will. But I sincerely hope that the adult publishing market doesn't shy away from this work--even if it's embarrassing, even if it's really hard.

I've heard some publishing folks say things like "We're damned if we do and damned if we don't." The implication being that trying to be more diverse & inclusive in their lists is not worth the effort because they make get it wrong & be strongly criticized.

That is a chilling statement to me. And indicative of the type of privilege that pervades the industry. It's a privilege to say, "This is too hard and too complicated and I don't like it, so I'm taking my toys and going home." NO. We don't get to do that.

And authors and illustrators of color and folks from other marginalized backgrounds don't get to simply opt out. We are all responsible for doing this work. Look at the recent demographics from the Lee & Low Diversity Baseline survey. WE MUST DO BETTER.

There are no simple answers to "Who gets to tell which stories?" OwnVoices is a crucial piece of that conversation, but it's not the end of it. And the reception of this particular book & what happens with it is surely not the end. This is the beginning.