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Reviewer recommendations
Feb. 13th, 2015 10:19 amVarious things could be considered the catalyst for this post, but the most recent was the first in a series of posts by Malinda Lo for Diversity in YA on perceptions of diversity in book reviews. In the post, Lo makes the disturbing point that a large number of reviews of diverse books criticise their diversity as 'contrived' or 'implausible'. It's clear that these reviewers need to change their default assumptions, but Lo's conclusions also speak to a wider problem: we need diverse reviews just as much as we need diverse books. Our understanding is enriched by exposure to a multiplicity of perspectives, and the work of marginalised reviewers is crucial in this.
This post, then, is intended to serve as a place for recommendations. A couple of things:
1. I'm not interested in identity-policing anyone. There's no need to argue in the comments as to whether anyone's identity is sufficiently marginalised to warrant inclusion, nor do you need to state exactly how the recommended reviewer is marginalised. Use your own judgement.
2. Self-recommendations are perfectly okay.
3. I am particularly keen to gather recommendations for reviewers writing in languages other than English, or writing in English about non-US/UK or non-Anglophone literatures. I have intermediate reading knowledge of several European languages but am essentially a monolingual English-speaker. These recs aren't for me! They're for people who are not used to seeing their languages and literatures represented in (English-language) lists of recommendations, or not used to seeing their literatures explored with any great nuance in the Anglophone world. (And this goes for any recs you might choose to post. They don't need to be accessible to me, just be important to you.)
4. No platform is too small. Feel free to recommend reviewers writing for well-known, influential sites or tiny personal blogs with small readerships. I'm attempting to gather recs that go beyond the usual suspects.
5. This is a cross-post at Livejournal and Dreamwidth, so feel free to comment at either place.
This post, then, is intended to serve as a place for recommendations. A couple of things:
1. I'm not interested in identity-policing anyone. There's no need to argue in the comments as to whether anyone's identity is sufficiently marginalised to warrant inclusion, nor do you need to state exactly how the recommended reviewer is marginalised. Use your own judgement.
2. Self-recommendations are perfectly okay.
3. I am particularly keen to gather recommendations for reviewers writing in languages other than English, or writing in English about non-US/UK or non-Anglophone literatures. I have intermediate reading knowledge of several European languages but am essentially a monolingual English-speaker. These recs aren't for me! They're for people who are not used to seeing their languages and literatures represented in (English-language) lists of recommendations, or not used to seeing their literatures explored with any great nuance in the Anglophone world. (And this goes for any recs you might choose to post. They don't need to be accessible to me, just be important to you.)
4. No platform is too small. Feel free to recommend reviewers writing for well-known, influential sites or tiny personal blogs with small readerships. I'm attempting to gather recs that go beyond the usual suspects.
5. This is a cross-post at Livejournal and Dreamwidth, so feel free to comment at either place.