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Diverse titles to talk about from the Readers’ Advisory Interest Group

[DIVERSITY]


In an era when the marginalization of diversity has become alarmingly normalized, it’s imperative that librarians connect our readers to the broadest possible spectrum of voices. This is why the BCLA Readers’ Advisory Interest Group (RAIG) strives to curate book lists that are thought-provoking, challenging, and inspiring. Don’t forget to put a hold on these titles for your own reading pleasure.


Even This Page is White | Vivek Shraya

“What if there is no right way to be brown / besides the brown you are.” In this bold and intimate debut poetry collection, Toronto-based trans artist and writer Vivek Shraya explores race and racism, including the ways it intersects with art, gender, and belonging. Her inventive and lyrical use of language makes this collection powerfully provocative and highly readable.

This Accident of Being Lost | Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

This Accident of Being Lost is award-winning Nishnaabeg storyteller and writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s new collection of provocative stories and songs. Simpson confronts colonial policies and dominant narratives. She shares tales of contemporary Indigenous Peoples’ lives and resistance using Nishnaabeg storytelling, realism, and science fiction.

Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone) | Kamal Al-Solayee

Journalist Al-Solayee explores what it means to be brown – not black, not white – in the world today. Brown-skinned people from diverse countries are under suspicion for their faith, or assumed to be cheap labour. What does it really mean to be a brown person today? Kamal Al-Solyaee interviews people from ten countries on four continents, drawing on his personal experience to explore what it means to be brown in a world where whiteness is still presented as the ultimate standard of beauty and desire.


Tara Matsuzaki is a librarian at the West Vancouver Memorial Library and the co-convener of the BCLA Readers’ Advisory Interest Group.

Shelley Wilson-Roberts is a librarian at the New Westminster Public Library and the co-convener of the BCLA Readers’ Advisory Interest Group.