Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Please helo!!

yay!! you're a hero

How is it #ownvoices?

Rosario Castellanos?

Ok help me out guys. #ownvoices has been gaining a lot of recognition in the challenges, more and more each year, and has tended to be one of my favorite categories, but I am really struggling to grasp this and also the #ownvoices Oceania.

We're just talking about books from set in Central America or Mexico or Oceania that are written by authors who are indigenous to those areas, right? Does it matter if the book is fictional and set in the country by an author from that country but the author didn't live during the time period they are writing about? As long as it includes the something of the culture of the area, we are counting it as #ownvoices??

In the announcement video of the challenge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZAbl...) she says about task 7: "ownvoices means it is written by someone who comes from that location or identifies with that. So someone of Mexican descent or someone of central American descent."

The owvoices in this challenge bother me because there are two, it's a recently coined word, and it's hard to find a list of books that fulfill it. It sounds like in addition to the author being part of the identity (eg, Mexican born), the character in the story has to be that same marginalized itentity too.

There must be a list of authors that fit this category published by Book Riot to give us hints any day now.

Stephanie: I don't consider a whole nationality a "marginalized identity". And that is only talking about a nation, if we look at the number of Central American nations we have a lot more to choose from.

Stephanie wrote: "The owvoices in this challenge bother me because there are two, it's a recently coined word, and it's hard to find a list of books that fulfill it. It sounds like in addition to the author being pa..."

This has always been my understanding of OwnVoices as well. A book about a member or members of a marginalized community by someone who is a member of that community. If it was the broader definition, why not just say a book set in Mexico or Central America by someone from Mexico or Central America?

Also interested to see what BR says.

Satrina wrote: "There must be a list of authors that fit this category published by Book Riot to give us hints any day now.

Stephanie: I don't consider a whole nationality a "marginalized identity". And that is o..."

http://www.corinneduyvis.net/ownvoices/

It sounds like race and ethnicity are part of this, as she uses the We Need Diverse Books definition of diversity ("We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities"). She gives the example of “character and author are both African-American." My example was to say latinx writer and set in Mexico. That is in keeping with ownvoices.

Stephanie wrote: "My example was to say latinx writer and set in Mexico. That is in keeping with ownvoices..."

To play devil's advocate, by this definition a book about Mexico by a former president of Mexico or a book set in Costa Rica by a Costa Rican millionaire would count. Not exactly marginalized people.

That's why I love this threads! Now it all starts to get clearer, it has to be a book about a marginalized identity within México, written by an author that belongs to that same marginalized identity...

Whitney wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "The owvoices in this challenge bother me because there are two, it's a recently coined word, and it's hard to find a list of books that fulfill it. It sounds like in addition to t..."

I agree that they should have just said this: "If it was the broader definition, why not just say a book set in Mexico or Central America by someone from Mexico or Central America?"

I am just getting this info. from the woman who invented this idea http://www.corinneduyvis.net/ownvoices/.

She says And “a” marginalized identity, not “all.” Sometimes a character will be part of a group the author isn’t. For example: a straight Cuban author writing a lesbian Cuban protagonist. As long as there’s another marginalized aspect of their identity they do share, it’s #ownvoices. (I have more on this further down.)"

In Oceania, an indigenous author, differently abled/neurodiverse author, or LGBTQIA author are examples that would fulfill the challenge.

Whitney wrote: " This has always been my understanding of OwnVoices as well. A book about a member or members of a marginalized community by someone who is a member of that community. If it was the broader definition, why not just say a book set in Mexico or Central America by someone from Mexico or Central America? "

This is exactly what threw me off..... I feel like theres a distinction between the two. In any event I picked 2 books by authors from countries that are just simply set in that country. I felt like that would diversify my reading enough since I really haven't read anything much from these area or authors from these areas ( PLENTY form Africa and Asia though and also a lot of #ownvoices LGBTQ, neurodiversity and disability already in my challenges this coming year) so I don't mind the stretch. But yes, I also looked up Corinne Duyvis definition last night to clarify. I was curious to see how hard everyone else is searching for books here....

Anyways this is what I came up with:
Central America/Mexico: ( EDIT: These are not Mexico/ Central America....Duh moment LOL )
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez ( Argentina)
and
Blood of the Dawn by Claudia Salazar Jiménez ( Peru)

Oceania
Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel ( Samoa)
and The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera ( New Zealand/ Maori author)

Hi everyone! Thanks for the discussion. In the broader publishing industry, an author from Central America or Mexico *is* marginalized because the industry is extremely US/UK-centric. So a book by an author from those countries would count even if they are a member of a majority of the population of that nation, but, for example, a book by an American author writing about Mexico would not. Of course there are nuances here, but we trust that y'all understand the spirit of the challenge, which is to read a variety of perspectives not dominant in the publishing industry.

Tracy wrote: "Whitney wrote: " This has always been my understanding of OwnVoices as well. A book about a member or members of a marginalized community by someone who is a member of that community. If it was the..."

Hi Tracy, in case you want to follow the prompt more closely, I just wanted to note that Argentina and Peru are in South, not Central America.

Tracy wrote: "Whitney wrote: " This has always been my understanding of OwnVoices as well. A book about a member or members of a marginalized community by someone who is a member of that community. If it was the..."

Tracy, neither Argentina nor Peru belong to Central America. Those two countries are in South America (though I would highly recomment the Mariana Enriquez book, she's amazing)

I've had Don't Send Flowers on my to-read list for a while, and Martin Solares definitely counts as #ownvoices. If you're into gritty crime/mysteries this is a good choice.

Chrissy wrote: "Hi Tracy, in case you want to follow the prompt more closely, I just wanted to note that Argentina and Peru are in South, not Central America. ...."

Karu wrote: "Tracy, neither Argentina nor Peru belong to Central America. Those two countries are in South America (though I would highly recomment the Mariana Enriquez book, she's amazing)..."


Thank you ladies 😊. I know I addressed this little geographical brain malfunction in a thread somewhere right after I posted ( maybe in the #ownvoices Oceania post?)... I'm still following this thread for something to fit the prompt. I don't know how I ended up in South America, except that it was probably around 3 am when I was searching this prompt and these books came up under a listopia for Mexico/central America. I did catch myself once I was awake lol. But I appreciate the help ( obviously I need it) 😩😂😴

Karu I will definitely be keeping the two books I listed on my radar for this year because they sound amazing.

I was struggling to find Central American literature, came up with something in Spanish - found Libertad En Llamas

Sheesh, I wanted to read something about the Haitian Revolution but can't find any recent Haitian historians in translation. I know French but it'll take forever to finish a 300+ pages book because I'm not used to reading French anymore.
And those I did find are apparently only by non-Haitians. :I

However, I found Women in Mexico: A Past Unveiled and this might be a good find, too.

for Mexico, maybe

Like Water for Chocolate
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
Cartucho and My Mother's Hands
The Transmigration of Bodies

Mercedes wrote: "Just keep in mind that Haiti and all Antillean islands are not considered Central America..."

I had to look it up because I didn't know where Haiti belonged to and my assumption was based on a map (and my own understanding of what would make sense) but the map conveyed the wrong message. Another search later I found out that Haiti is considered part of North America.
Good to know. Surprising but I definitely learned somethin new.

Ugh.. there are two separate threads for this category. The other one is here ( this is why my post about my books being South American got lost )

#own voices Mexico and Central America

The other post has more ideas on it just FYI.

I'm new to the #ownvoices concept. Would autobiography count?

Karen wrote: "Rosario Castellanos?"
The Book of Lamentations could be a good one?

I read another book by her last year and loved it, so I may go with:
The Story of My Teeth