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Asian Heritage Month and the Importance of Diversity in Publishing


It's the second week of Asian Heritage Month, a time to appreciate the history, present, and future of Asian culture. Of course, this appreciation shouldn't be limited to May exclusively. Everyday is an opportunity to celebrate Asian creators and art. In recent years, the importance of diverse representation and equitable publishing is becoming an increasingly widespread priority. The positive psychological, social, cultural, and political impacts of diverse representation are profound. Unfortunately, Asian characters in popular media are often tokenized, stereotyped, underdeveloped, and tertiary to white characters. 

In an interview with Room Magazine, author Mariko Tamaki noted, "There is not necessarily a lot of young Asian people in books. When I was a kid, there was Obasan, that’s like the only book you can read about a young Asian girl. I think it is really important that the people you see and whose stories you see unfolding are not just the same character every time [...] there are diverse experiences of race." Mariko's cousin and partner in creation, Jillian, added, "I really appreciate just straight representation and not 'DIVERSITY!' To just make an example of it, a positive example. It is not my interest to do any of that pedantic stuff." 

Storytelling tokenism is defined by Layla F. Saad in her book Me and White Supremacy as "when BIPOC characters are used on-screen to give the visual look of diversity." TV shows, films, books, and artwork by white people historically centre on white characters, so supporting the work of BIPOC authors is essential to changing the narrative, as it were. 

At the Learning Commons, we have work by Asian authors spanning genre and interest... To name a few: Jillian and Mariko Tamaki (YA, graphic novels), Rupi Kaur (poetry), David Suzuki (environmentalism), Haruki Murakami (surrealist fiction), Celeste Ng (fiction), Ocean Vuong (poetry), and many more. Who are your favourite Asian authors?

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