stillness is a lie, my dear
Calls for diversity often reinforce the belief that depictions shouldn’t center around marginalisation, but instead show characters aren’t defined by their identities. That doesn’t mean their identities should be ignored.
It’s time to bust the myth that it’s impossible to depict a marginalised group poorly when you’re a member of that group or understand marginalisation from a different perspective.
After twenty years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer retains its iconic cult status, and says a lot about creating enduring art.
Debates over ‘age appropriate’ literature tend to talk down to children, underestimate young readers, and put value judgements on creative work.
The ‘quality’ arguments surrounding diverse books are bogus red herrings designed to cover up for systematic representational problems.
Let 2017 be the year you give yourself permission to stop reading books when they bore, frustrate, or infuriate you.
The push for diverse literature is making more people want to plunge into diverse writing. It’s also making a lot of people afraid of doing it wrong.
The myth that suffering induces creativity endures, and it’s back with a vengeance for 2017.
As I spend so much time rereading, I’m thinking about what draws me to books, and ultimately, it’s characters.
On post-apocalyptic media, dystopia, and why we don’t spend enough time examining the liminal space between society and collapse — the protodystopia.