#WeNeedDiverseBooks

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

Updated Aug 17, 2015 at 10:11PM EDT by Brad.

Added May 02, 2014 at 11:50AM EDT by Molly Horan.

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About

#WeNeedDiverseBooks is a hashtag campaign launched by a group of American writers and activists to raise awareness of the lack of diversity in children's and youth literature, as well as to encourage readers to diversify their personal collections with books featuring characters of different races, genders, sexual orientations and abilities.

Origin

On April 26th, 2014, the Tumblr blog WeNeedDiverseBooks[1] was launched by young adult author Ellen Oh and other diversity advocates. According to its announcement post, the campaign was inspired by increased news media coverage of the lack of diversity in the children’s book industry, citing the New York Times[15] op-ed "Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?" and CNN's[16] op-ed "'Where's the African-American Harry Potter or the Mexican Katniss?'" which were published in March and April, respectively.


URSULA K. FA LAMIR CLE CORINNE DUYVs IS NOT INVISIB GIC NIVER WANt Kick SUTTER A55 SEDGWICK PEN THE LIVING IE ET OU tankborn GEEKS, GIRLS SECRET IDENTITIES ELLEN OH Join us May 1, 2 & 3 to talk about why #WeNeedDiverseBook http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/

The post also instructed its supporters to bring further attention to the issue by participating in a three day campaign from May 1st to May 3rd. On May 1st, supporters would participate in a visual campaign by posting images using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. On May 2nd, the focus would move to Twitter with further discussions based on the same hashtag, and on May 3rd, the campaign asks that people buy diverse children’s books as a way to “Diversify Your Shelves.” In less than a week, the post gained over 6,000 notes.

Spread

Online Reaction

Though the campaign didn't officially launch until May 1st, supporters began using the hashtag as soon as it was announced on April 26th. Many New York Times bestselling children's and young adult authors tweeted out the hashtag including Gayle Foreman[3], Rainbow Rowell[4], Neil Gaiman[5] and Jenny Han.[6]


gayle forman @gayleforman 塩Follow The reason #WeNeedDiverseBooks: So both my daughters can see themselves-and each other-in books. pic.twitter.com/b96OHssagN Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETSFAVORITES 775 1,688 * Follow Rainbow Rowell rainbowrowell #WeNeedDiverseBooks because I want to read and write books as rich and diverse as my own life. Reply t Retweet * Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 119 12:15 PM-1 May 2014 Neil Gaiman @neilhimself Follow Of course. Because we do. RT @mariekeyn: @neilhimself Welcome back! Just in time for #WeNeedDiverseBooks. Will you help us spread the word? Reply t3 Retweet ★ Favorite … More RETWEETSFAVORITES 65 95 Jenny Han @jennyhan Follow Also YES YES YES! #WeNeedDiverseBooks because OBVSLY we do Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FA VORITES

The hashtag #weneeddiversebooks[2] was tweeted out over 64,000 times in the week following the announcement of the campaign. As of May 2nd, the official Twitter account[7] for WeNeedDiverseBooks has over 1,000 followers. On May 2nd, in support of the campaign literary agent Michelle Witte[11] introduced the hashtag #diversitywl so agents and editors could tweet out the kind of diverse stories they're looking for.

News Media Coverage

On April 30th, 2014, book site BookRiot[12] published a post titled "Jump into the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign, Help Change the World," which explained the campaign. On May 1st, Slate[9] published a post titled "#WeNeedDiverseBooks Goes Viral," which focused on the campaign's popularity and spread. On May 2nd, Buzzfeed[8] posted a collection of photos focused on kids (shown below) from the WeNeedDiverseBooks Tumblr titled "18 Adorable Reasons We Need More Diverse Books."


Ne need diverse books because still dont know/ what 工want to be when grow up WE NE DIVERS BOOKS WE NEED TERSE BOOs WE NEED DIVERSE WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS BOOKSWE NEED VE NEED DIVERSE DIVERSE OOKS NEED VERSE DIVERSE BOOKS WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS WE NEED DIVERSE EVERYTHING IN THIS CIRCLE

Other sites that covered the campaign include Bustle[10], Racialicious[13], and School Library Journal.[14]

Notable Examples


We need dverse books ew up think brown men couldnt be dnything more than a rok kink E need DIVERSE 叠BG@kS because Stories ARE or TRUTHS RUTHS and there are as many as there are Peofte We need diverse books because of the joy: saw on the face ot a m uslim shu dent when she saw a qirl wearin a hijab on the cover of a book She found. Everyone deserves to be-validated← like that we need diverse books L cause we uould like to sec rfrend shie in lbook We need divese this gener tron んW te Dah uA becaluse eNeryo eeshereç one

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