Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 88

make it happen

Did you attend BookExpo America last week? Did you notice that stepping into the Javits Center was like leaving New York City—trading an incredibly diverse city for an astonishingly white world of publishing professionals? We can do something about that. I just sent an email to the Conference/Education Programming team (you can find their email addresses here). Do you know anyone else who can help us make this happen? If so, please email me or leave a comment and/or reach out to them yourself. I met with Jill from Rhapsody in Books last week and we tried to think of ways to mobilize people around the issue of equity in publishing. Should we try to get a celebrity on board? Would Bill Cosby or Queen Latifah or Alicia Keyes lend their name to this cause? What about Spike and Tonya Lee, or Jada Pinkett Smith–black celebrities who have ventured into the world of publishing? Or could we dispense with celebrities and just try to get "major players" into a room and on the record? I'm open to ideas…

   

Greetings. My name is Zetta Elliott and I am an author/blogger/scholar. I would like to propose a session for BEA 2012 that would address the issue of equity in publishing. BookExpo is a wonderful event, yet one can't help but notice the shocking lack of diversity at the nation's largest publishing convention (held in the nation's most diverse city).

At the London Book Fair, DIPNET (the Diversity in Publishing Network) holds an annual meeting to discuss their proposed UK Publishing Equalities Charter; I think BEA could benefit from holding a similar session in order to give publishers, booksellers, book buyers, and other members of the literary community an opportunity to strategize and share ideas around improving equity in the US publishing industry. Representatives from the AAP, ABA, and AAR could join authors, educators, and librarians to set concrete goals that would ensure that the 21st-century publishing industry accurately reflects this nation of readers and writers.

I will be presenting a paper at the Race, Ethnicity, and Publishing conference at the Université de Provence in March 2012; I would like to report to attendees that the US is taking steps to address the appalling inequity in its publishing industry. I regularly blog about this issue and would be happy to collaborate with you, should you need any help coordinating and/or advertising a session for BEA 2012.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Zetta Elliott

driven

This has been a difficult week: BEA was mostly a bust, I suffered a serious wardrobe malfunction (curse you, cute shoes!), and got a harsh reality check regarding my job prospects. Still, things ended on a positive note yesterday—my students wowed me with their artwork/performances and I got to connect with some AmazonEncore friends. Today I'm taking it easy, ignoring the stack of grading and the mound of laundry silently glaring at me from the corner. I found this interesting article on the Ms. blog: "Where Are the Girls in Children's Literature?" The conversation in recent years has focused on the neglect of boys in kidlit (or YA lit, more specifically), yet this study shows that in the last century, girls suffered from "symbolic annihilation" due to the gender disparity in children's picture books. Last week I was thinking about Elizabeth Bluemle's search for "non-race-driven" multicultural books—what would it mean (or how would I feel) if a man asked for "non-gender-driven" books about girls? Books where gender is taken for granted, and doesn't become the focus of the story? How many books would make that list?

I've been asked to contribute to an anthology about bullying and other forms of oppression, and I'm trying to convert one of my short plays into a short story. It's about two teens held in protective custody: one was rescued from a suburban brothel and the other ran away from a polygamist cult. It's definitely a gender-driven narrative, but I don't suppose anyone would have a problem with that. No one would ask for more stories about girls "just having fun" and being "ordinary people." Next on my reading list? This Vanity Fair article about sex trafficking in the US and another article from the Ms. blog about a young woman brutalized by her pimp and fellow sex workers:

When a young woman in Atlanta tried to escape her pimp in April 2010, his retaliation was swift and brutal. He ordered four other sex workers to beat the runaway until her eyes swelled shut and a bottle pierced her head.

Then the pimp locked the 21-year-old woman in a 3-by-5 foot dog cage overnight, bragging about her debasement by texting photos of the caged woman to other pimps. Police, tipped off by someone horrified by the photos, found the woman alive in a hotel and arrested the pimp and prostitutes.

Sometimes girls "just wanna have fun," and sometimes that's not remotely possible. Here's to "keepin' it real," whether you're writing about race, gender, or talking back to Beyonce (who's also featured in a new trailer for the film, Dark Girls).

kids count–and read!

It's BookExpo this week, and I must admit that I woke with a feeling of dread this morning. I'm looking forward to meeting some new people (including Jill from Rhapsody in Books!) but I hate crowds, I'm not good at mingling, I still have to teach, and it's raining right now. Hopefully I'll be able to snag a cab so I won't have to schlep all the way out to the west side.

While BookExpo celebrates all things related to publishing, it's easy to forget that young readers are part of the equation. If you missed out on donating books to Ballou HS through the Guys Lit Wire book drive, then please consider giving to San Marcos H.S. in Santa Barbara. Click that link to get all the details about Ari's second book drive to supply deserving schools with books by and about people of color. Here are some of the titles they're hoping to receive:

Carmen: an urban adaptation of the opera by Walter Dean Myers

Fish out of Agua by Michele Carlo

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles (not out until August so an ARC would be awesome)

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Not out until October so an ARC would be awesome)

Huntress by Malinda Lo

Kira, Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

Luminous by Dawn Metcalf (releases in July but an ARC would be greatly appreciated!)

Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers

Please mail the books to

San Marcos High School c/o Helen Murdoch

4750 Hollister Ave

Santa Barbara, CA 93110

don't look down

One of the things you learn as a New Yorker is how to navigate the streets safely. You need to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and you should be prepared to encounter things that are unpleasant and/or unexpected. At least once a week I find myself stepping around a pool of vomit—sometimes it's on the subway stairs, sometimes on the train itself. I've learned to keep moving: watch where you step, but don't linger. Closer inspection will only make the sight and smell of it that much worse.

On Wednesday a friend and I went to see Jumping the Broom. It was pouring rain when we left the theater and so we didn't conduct our usual post-film analysis over dinner, but here's a hint: before the film even ended, Rosa turned to me and said, "Ready to go?" Staying an extra ten minutes didn't do anything to improve my overall impression of this film. The next morning I woke up thinking that blogging about Jumping the Broom was a lot like looking too closely at vomit on the street. It's a mess. You know it's a mess. So don't waste time trying to analyze the mess. It's not YOUR mess, so don't waste time trying to tidy it up. Leave it alone.

Rosa and I met up again yesterday to see the Elizabeth Catlett exhibit at the Bronx Museum. Every so often we'd find ourselves recalling yet another problematic aspect of Jumping the Broom. Why did the African American groom work for Goldman Sachs, the firm that played a significant role in the current economic crisis? Why did the ditzy light-light-light-skinned bride wear a bra and panties or skintight clothes the entire film–and why was there no evidence of the 500K her parents supposedly spent on her education (or her high-powered job in China)? Why were the dark-skinned women totally effed up—terse and frigid if she's rich (Angela Bassett) or coarse and mouthy if she's working class (Loretta Devine)? Why were there so many gratuitous bikini shots? Why was the chef digging for clams onshore in hip-waders and no shirt? Why do black women actors allow themselves to be cast in these roles? Why did I pay $9.50 for that crap when I didn't get off my behind to go see recent indie films like I Will Follow and Night Catches Us? That's really the only question that matters.

The art of Elizabeth Catlett is stunning. And I'm reading an interesting novel, Ancestor Stones, by Aminatta Forna. And on Wednesday I was interviewed by a class of 5th graders at Thurgood Marhsall Academy Lower School—SO bright and inquisitive and thoughtful. My student guide, Jaden, informed me that he plans to become a writer and is interested in this guy named Tolkien…all of which is to say, "Don't look down. Look UP!"

another new blog

"Be your own example." That's what my friend Gabrielle told me to do when I started complaining about not having any 30-something black feminist role models a few years ago. It would be so much easier if you could just point at someone and say, "I want a life like hers," but every woman has her own ambition and her own path to follow—I'm still searching for mine. I named Rosetta Press after my paternal grandmother; I bear her name and yet know very little about her. Last month I was giving advice to a young writer on redesigning her blog; last night it was my turn to follow my own advice, and I scoured my apartment for colors and textures and images that represent my imprint. This is as close as I could get: a painted map of Nevis, the Caribbean island where my father was born; a photograph of my grandfather (who refused to tell me anything about Rosetta, whom he never married); the wedding photo of my aunt (who has no memories of her mother, having been raised by another couple); the two cowrie shells I found on the streets of Brooklyn; my father's passport from when he was a teen and a British subject; and my favorite piece of fabric, which is a beautiful sari my cousin brought me from Bangladesh. I took a dozen photos and couldn't decide which was best, so the header changes every time you change the page…

relive the magic

Did you miss the "Myth & Magic" reading at Franklin Park last week? The L Magazine posted this great review:

Alexi Zentner, hailed as the inventor of a new genre called "mythical realism," read passages from his novel Touch, which included a sad, riveting, macabre, and harrowing scene of an accident on a frozen river. Zetta Elliott read from her YA fantasy A Wish After Midnight, a pre-9/11 story that time-travels to Civil War-era Brooklyn; she read two passages set in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one sweet one in which a black-Latina girl gabs with an old Danish man, and another of ghostly, moonlit, time-folding strangeness. Elliott ended on a breathless cliffhanger that left the crowd scrambling for the merch table; during the break, everyone seemed to have a copy of her book tucked under their arms.

Thanks to for setting up shop that night!

fave pix

My friend Kate is visiting with her daughter—she's the same age I was when I first came to Brooklyn back in the '70s! These are my two favorite shots so far:

at the Central Park Children's Zoo; practicing for Halloween

for the birds

You no doubt know that I have a thing for birds. Well, today I got my fill at the Museum of Natural History and then the Central Park zoo. Don't ask me to name any of these birds, however…

no consensus

Folks on Facebook seem to be split—nearly everyone on my personal account likes the yellow cover and everyone on my author account likes the black…you?

The black cover has an opaque back, whereas the yellow cover allows the front image to be visible on the back.

non-race-driven multicultural titles

Elizabeth Bluemle is an activist bookseller who's trying to effect change within the publishing community. Stop by her Shelftalker blog if you know of titles that might fit her criteria:

Stories and nonfiction about racially charged eras and issues of racial identity in our culture are critical, of course. But equally important are mainstream stories—in every genre—that feature kids of color as main characters in a setting that, like most of America, is culturally and racially diverse. Stories about friendship, family, pets, love, character, self-reliance, etcetera, in mysteries, adventures, science fiction and fantasy, for every age child and every type of book, including chapter books, board books, easy readers.

I'll be interested in seeing how many 2011 titles publishers put forward. Out of the 5000 books published annually for children, how many do you think are "non-race-driven multicultural titles"? I'm working on an essay right now about the challenges I face when trying to be an "ethical author." How do you act with integrity in a homogeneous industry that seems only to value the bottom line? I want my conclusion to offer solutions, and this is my big idea: every year at BookExpo, the publishing community should come together to focus exclusively on equity. We need librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, publishers, editors, agents, art directors, booksellers, marketing directors, book reviewers, book buyers, and literacy advocates to commit to a set of ethical, equitable standards—like those outlined in the UK Publishing Equalities Charter. We need members of the publishing community to become signatories—to make a solid commitment to taking concrete actions AND to posting their results. That way we can track progress and offer support and resources when signatories fall short of their goals. It's not enough to rely on folks' good intentions. Not when all the evidence proves that goodwill, if and when it exists, simply isn't enough.