Broader, Better Literary Conversations

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/176083/broader-better-literary-conversations#axzz2eKnhfUsE



Representation and participation in the literary conversation have been an ongoing concern. All too often, literary white men dominate the conversation. Fifty years ago, that could be explained away. In this day and age, it’s absurd. Last year, I did a rough count of how many books by writers of color were reviewed in The New York Times in 2011. The numbers were grim but unsurprising. White writers wrote nearly 90% of the books covered by the paper of record.

In reality, literary coverage comes at a premium for all writers, regardless of their identities. Book coverage shrinks every year and no writer, with the exception of an elite few, are guaranteed any kind of attention for their books. Writers have to hustle to get their books in front of readers. They have to hustle hard, but unfortunately, when we look at the numbers, it is plain that some writers have to hustle much harder than others. The real problem though is that the harder hustle still might not get these writers anywhere.

There’s no satisfaction that comes from pointing out these kinds of imbalances, none at all. Underrepresented writers shouldn’t even be put in a position, not in 2013, where we have to count, where we have to worry that race or gender or sexuality will be one more barrier to a highly coveted piece of book coverage. Don’t we deserve to suffer the same banal “will anyone notice my book” neuroses as all the white men instead of clawing for a fraction of a seat at the ever-shrinking table?

I counted again this year, looking at more publications. This wasn't highly scientific work--with the help of two graduate assistants, Gretchen Schaible and Doug Urbanski, we simply found all the 2012 reviews we could for several publications and looked at the race/ethnicity of the writers whose books were covered. The approach, however inelegant, does begin to tell a familiar story. Below is a rough look at what I found; it was too dispiriting to spend time on pie charts stating the obvious.