How this reading challenge made me reflect on my white centred reading habits
My love of reading was established from a young age. My mum spent countless hours nurturing my love of words + books. I still have a memory of being asked to supply her with words that rhymed with duck… That didn’t go so well… I digress. Like most young children I adored fairy tales, and once I was of school age I was plagued with Biff + Chip books. My books weren't diverse. AT ALL. But at that age, it wasn’t a problem to me at all. The world around me was also very Caucasian & now in retrospect, I realised that I had been conditioned to only seek what I saw around me, even in literature.
The Books featured above were all written by white authors. At the time such titles were all the rage, but I wouldn't know how much damage this would have on my view of Black literature until much later.
At the time it was “Jacqueline Wilson books? I’ll have a dozen of them!”, nevermind how problematic many of her titles actually were. For instance, ‘Girls in Love’, there was no diversity in the characters, and looking back, there were no similarities between my teen experiences & the characters featured.
I’m greatful to have had the love of reading instilled in me from a young age, but I really wish that I had been exposed to more diverse titles from a younger age.
My mid & late teens were sprinkled with a few Black authored books. First up was the Noughts & Crosses series by the G.O.A.T that is Malorie Blackman. Despite the heavy subject matter, I was mesmerised by this series. Noughts + Crosses allowed my imagination to run riot with “what if's” is respect of race & power. I finally felt seen, heard & understood within UK literature. You would think that after reading such a groundbreaking book that it would inspire me to seek out more Black authored titles, but I didn’t. It was a case of “better the devil you know”, that devil being the best sellers shelves of WHSmith. If you walk into your local supermarket or book store you will likely find an array of white authored books in the best sellers section. As a result I would always believe that these “best-sellers” were the books that I should be reading.
Thanks to my ex boyfriends mum, I was introduced to a few more (trauma heavy) Black authored books that I thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I struggled with the fact that these were not mainstream book titles & did little to seek out more Black authored titles.
When we discuss how it is important to read diverse books, I could not agree more. Maybe if I would have seen more Black authored books around me, I would have been more inclined to read them & seek them out.
Now, fast forward to 2020. We were approaching a new age of the world we inhabit: The Covid-19 pandemic. A few weeks prior to the world being shut down, I had started a new job & was keen to fill my hour between the school run & my work shift with something more enjoyable that just sitting in Starbucks aimlessly. I ended up venturing into Waterstones & the rest as they say was history.
Enter Queenie. This book stood out to me. The bright pink cover, the box braids, the title. It was speaking to me. I know that Queenie is a book that has polarised the masses, but that book will forever hold a special place in my heart. It reconnected me with Black stories & authors. If you’ve been following me since 2020, you'll know that my grid features a plethora of Black books. It’s a far cry from where I started, but it is everything that I wish I had always been.
There is an abundance of Black authored stories available to me now & I love this for me, for us, for the world.
It’s crazy to me when I hear comments about the work that I’ve put in to amplify the work of Black authors via my social media accounts. For all of my years of actively avoiding/searching for Black authored books, this is the very least I could do.
Black authored books to di worllllll’ 🫡📚
How have your reading habits changed over the years?