The Twitter and Tumblr campaign of #WeNeedDiverseBooks, an initiative aimed at highlighting just how lacking in diversity the literary world is, especially books for young adults and children, kicked off on May 1st. Coming as it does on the heels of criticism of the BEA (Book Expo America) and BookCon’s nearly all-white line-up, and alongside Junot Diaz’s incisive essay on The New Yorker’s blog, MFA vs.

Two weeks ago I wrote a piece about a Humans of New York (HONY) post which featured a white teacher talking about the challenges he faces teaching in Harlem. Following that piece I was approached, both online and in person, by a number of people with questions and (some) accusations, so I'd like to take this opportunity to answer and respond to some of those.

In Alison Flood’s article, “Writers attack ‘overrated’ Anglo-American literature at Jaipur festival,” writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo (author of Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers) says, “Our reading habit has been stolen and changed...our reading habit is more Anglo-Saxon, more American...all the poetry, all the alternative things, have been pushed away by mai