These past years, the YA genre has become more and more diverse. We aren't there yet, but this is a little step in the right direction. But there are still very few books that I, as a mixed gal, can relate to. The arc's from books that do have diversity, mostly get send over to the people who aren't "own voices". Today I will talk about the importance of own voice reviews.
The first time I really thought about this topic, was after the #OwnVoicesReviews movement was created by the talented Seji (theartisangeek on Instagram and YouTube). She wrote a post about her annoyance and that really moved me.
In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, I can remember Starr talking about her hair struggles and I giggled because it was so relatable. It was a little thing that made me be like 'wow, girl same!'
The question that often comes up is, why aren't there any reviews written by people from the same background as the author - Seji (theartisangeek)
Yes, why aren't the early copies given to the people from the same background as the author? These people write their reviews based on their experiences.
If not, we may love a book, that turns out to be inaccurate. Things like that happen. I read a book once that I'd heard good things about. But then when I scrolled down the reviews more and more, I read that the story wasn't actually accurate. I would've known that sooner if own voice reviews were more promoted.
Another thing is that some publishers don't work along either. They are in charge of sending out review copies and they don't thing about giving them to own voice reviewers.
But luckily after Seji's post I saw Rena Barron (author of Kingdom of Souls) give an arc of her book to Seji, an own voice reviewer and I saw a bookstagrammer give away her arc to an own voice reviewer!
I believe that if we keep talking about this movement that more publishers and authors will notice and follow.
So, let's all promote own voice reviews and make sure that if you are writing an own voice review, to put #OwnVoicesReviews at the top of your review. That way, people will be able to read a review from someone with the same background.