Season 1 - Episode 2 – Diversity and Representation in Fiction

Doing Diversity in Writing

Episode 2 – Diversity and representation in fiction

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—explain why a conversation about diversity and representation in fiction is necessary.

We also talk about:

• • the fact some characters are overrepresented while others are severely underrepresented in fiction
  • positive, and less positive, examples from our childhood and adult reading

• Mariëlle’s #ownvoices project My Voice, My Story
• some of the reasons our literary canon is the way it is, even though things are slowly changing
• how representing diverse characters is not just about quantity, it’s also about the quality of those representations

Some quotes from this week’s episode:

“It’s about being able to recognize yourself in the people around you, whether you meet them on the page, on the screen, in the park.”

“Are there no books that made you open your mind to something or turned your whole world upside down? Stories that made you feel understood, that made you feel less alone, that helped you keep going when you didn’t know how to?”

“Not seeing something can create a void, but if we do see something and that something is a negative or highly stereotypical, then there we have another problem.”

Here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show:

• Brené Brown interviews Gabby Rivera: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-gabby-rivera-on-superheroes-storytelling-and-joy-as-resistance
• The “Are you a princess of Wakanda?” article: https://www.lovewhatmatters.com/are-you-a-princess-of-wakanda-her-eyes-grew-so-big-i-crossed-my-arms-over-my-chest-chadwick-boseman-black-panther
• Mariëlle’s My Voice, My Story anthologies: https://mswordsmith.nl/anthologies
• Ash Roberts’s website: https://ashrobertsdragoneer.com
• and all the places you can purchase Ash’s book Royal Dragon: https://books2read.com/royaldragon

And you can find this week’s bonus material here: https://representationmatters.art/2021/10/07/episode2/

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