Over the last few months, there’s been a growing conversation around representation, #ownvoices, writing, and reviewing on Twitter. If that sounds vague, that’s because I’m writing this at 4:00am and because the conversation itself is one that, in my mind, covers a wide range of topics that all relate back to each other.
There’s been discussion over how reviewers should go about critiquing books by authors with marginalized identities, and how authors of color are often held to higher standards than other authors, and the importance of representation, but also the importance of supporting marginalized authors because of who they are, and not because they’re carving up their personal experience for public consumption. I can’t articulate any of this very well at all, and I’m still thinking about it a lot myself – and as with any complex and important issue, there’s no easy answer, and no way to magically get everyone on the same page.
So, if you’d like to join me in mulling, check out the twitter threads linked below that touch upon these topics:
On the pressure for marginalized creators to create Perfect Works
On the expectation for writers to write their ethnicity
On the misuse of #OwnVoices
More on #OwnVoices
What are your thoughts?
I read a lot of these conversations on Twitter and found them thought-provoking, though I don’t consider Twitter to be an effective platform for discussing them in depth. I did write a response to several of these threads on my own blog here, from my perspective of a writer on the autism spectrum not necessarily writing about my own disability and culture: http://www.lynmillerlachmann.com/identity/