CBC Diversity

Contributed by Mary Birdsell

Cameras are magic. By capturing a moment in time, cameras give us the ability to explore actions and emotions in a way that we cannot in another medium. Each time I look through a lens, my perception of the world is altered. I can see and photograph something large, magnificent, like a sunset or something smaller, poignant, like a smile. Perception is a funny thing, it can change big things to become more accessible and alter smaller things to become more meaningful. In the instant a photograph is taken, a person is at their most vulnerable because a camera will show only the truth. Every emotion, from frustration to triumph, sadness to joy, is seen through the lenses of my camera.

Children in particular express each emotion clearly. I’ve photographed everything from weddings to landscapes, but working with children and their families has been the most rewarding. Through previous work, I was asked to photograph children that have special needs for a Finding My Way Books series, true stories that highlight inclusion and self-determination. I am fortunate to use my art to support diversity and literacy.

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Tell us about your most recent book and how you came to write/illustrate it.

My new book is titled Genius – The Game. It is the first in a series of books about child prodigies from diverse backgrounds who come together to change their stars and the world. The launch pad for their revolution is a competition called the Game. There, they will compete with 200 other prodigies in a contest that will not only test their brains but also challenge their ideals.

Genius – The Game explores the outer reaches of technology, the explosive power of young minds, and the bonds of family. It is filled with big ideas and even bigger emotions. But more than just a book, the Genius series is a movement – it is my call to the youth of the world: liberate your minds and you can liberate the planet.

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Contributed by Firoozeh Dumas, Author

People often me ask why I waited so long to start writing. I always thought that in order to be a writer, one had to be English and dead. I started writing when I was thirty-six years old so I could tell my stories to my children. I wanted them to know what I have known since I was seven years old; that our commonalities far outweigh our differences. I learned this when my family moved from Abadan, Iran to Whittier, California. From a young age, I did not fear those who are different from me, and what an asset that has been in my life! As an adult, I discovered that many people never learn this simple truth. They live in fear of “the other”, and there are many “others.”

After my first book, Funny in Farsi, was published, I started giving lectures around the country. Readers in every nook and cranny that I visited said the same two things to me, “I never thought a writer from the Middle East could make me laugh out loud” and “Your family is just like my family!” I soon realized that most people learn about other cultures from the evening news. The problem is that only bad news is news. Most people never expect a female Iranian writer to be relatable; they expect me to be oppressed and sad. That is what they have seen on the news. I am neither. 

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Contributed by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell 

Where do we find the most diversity in any genre in children’s literature? Poetry—but it might not always be easy to see, as much of the diversity is embedded in anthologies that aren’t necessarily categorized as diverse. In the 700+ poems that we have published so far in The Poetry Friday Anthology series, nearly a third reflect diverse experiences of culture, language, religion, and more, including poems that address underrepresented topics such as Diwali (by Uma Krishnaswami), Ramadan (by Ibtisam Barakat), Day of the Dead (by René Saldaña, Jr.), Dashain (by Margarita Engle), and Gay Pride Day (by Lesléa Newman).

You might never look to the National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry, edited by J. Patrick Lewis (National Geographic, 2016), for diverse poems, yet it contains poems by 20 diverse poets. Poems to Learn by Heart, compiled by Caroline Kennedy (Disney, 2013), contains poems by at least 17 diverse poets. And more than a quarter of the poets are diverse in The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects by Paul B. Janeczko (Candlewick, 2015).  

No other genre, however, goes out of print more quickly than poetry. Our challenge: How can we make sure that diverse poetry books find their audience? Here are things we’ve been trying:

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