Good "diverse" books are good books, period.
I go to a lot of books-related conferences for writers, publishers, booksellers, and librarians. In the last number of years, most of these conferences have included a panel of some sort on diversity in publishing. I’ve gone to many of these panels and participated in many of them. And I’ve noticed one thing: these panels are one of the only places where under-represented writers are represented.That’s changing a little bit and I’m glad. But it seems like we still participate in segregation when we only market our “diverse” authors on “diversity” panels. Who, after all, is coming to these panels? Generally speaking, it is those of us who are already invested in these issues. We’re preaching to the choir, so to speak. And those people who don’t think about this issue at all but love fantasy novels or romance or crime novels—why aren’t they given the opportunity to hear about fantasy books or romances or crime novels written by authors from marginalized communities or about protagonists…
