There are many things I could talk about with this masterful novel. Rap, hip-hop, police brutality, racism, rebellion, young love, friendship, poverty, expectations, assumptions. But honestly who am I to speak to any of those things? What I will say is this: Any book that makes fun of White people this much is desperately needed.
Read MoreMany young writers, like myself, don’t know the first thing about getting published.
Why?
Because, either our writing programs didn’t teach us and/or because even successful writers don’t often talk about the process. And when publishing is talked about, it is often through a privileged lens— a lens that doesn’t help the majority of new writers reach their goals. So how do we help each other get published when we aren’t privileged? We learn by example.
I chose these writers to be our examples not simply based on their popularity and their relevance alone. It’s also more than that. I wanted to highlight not just how White men can get published, but how everyone else can get published too, including Black writers, Asian writers, women, non-Western writers/writers who tell non-Western stories, and LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) writers. This is important. White people, especially White men, have owned the publishing stage for centuries. But what about the rest of us?
This post is for the rest of us.
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