A couple of hacks that I developed for Writers With Drinks, the long-running spoken word show that I& #39;ve been hosting forever:

1) Ask every participant the pronunciation of their name. Even if their name is John Smith, ask how to pronounce it. Don& #39;t single out non-anglo names.

(Of course I still screwed up the pronunciation of people& #39;s names, but I tried not to. I also watched YouTube videos to try and see how people pronounced their own names, in addition to asking directly.)

2) To find more Black authors and performers to feature, don& #39;t just look for people you know. Find a Black poetry night or a Black comedy night or a Black literary reading and show up. Listen to a dozen people reading their work to find the handful that you& #39;ll fall in love with.

Especially before so many shows were posted on YouTube, I used to lurk in the audience of so many events that featured specifically BIPOC ppl. I tried to cast a wide net, because I& #39;m a picky curator, and I wanted to expose myself to lots of voices in their own cultural context.

Oh, and as an addendum to the "ask John Smith how to pronounce their name" thing: Someone& #39;s name might be spelled "John Smith" but have a totally unusual pronunciation. It happens. But also, it just makes the asking into a regular thing that everyone is subjected to.