I believed readers only wanted trauma stories from writers of colour. Then I became an author | Zoya Patel

For so long, it seemed that readers were only interested in the experiences of people like me if we were traumatised, not triumphant – and I internalised this as an indisputable factGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI can’t pinpoint exactly when I started imagining myself in the stories I read but I know it was at a young age. Some of the first books I really connected with were Sweet Valley Twins, a US series about blond, blue-eyed twin sisters who lived a very middle-class white life I could barely picture. I knew on some level that I wouldn’t exist in their community, where there was no suggestion of cultural diversity. But I wanted to, so in my daydreams about the twins and their world I added an Indian girl to their friendship group.Even as a child I knew that the onus was on me to stretch my imagination to include myself; it was not on the writers to incorporate diversity in their stories in the first place.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morningZoya Patel’s novel Once a Stranger is published by Hachette Australia ($32.99) Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-18 19:00:19 UTC ]

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-18 18:51:25 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 16:36:04 UTC ]
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Julie Burchill's publisher cancels book contract over Islam tweets

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[ The Guardian | 2020-12-15 16:27:56 UTC ]
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Hachette Children's acquires four from Carmelite Picture Book Prize-winner

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-23 20:16:52 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-16 14:38:48 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-10 18:53:49 UTC ]
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Hachette UK hails 'stellar' quarter but Lagardère sees revenue plunge 38.3%

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 11:50:37 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 10:01:07 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-01 21:30:53 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-26 05:52:10 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-05 02:22:05 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-02 10:02:53 UTC ]
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[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-01 11:00:54 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 01:46:37 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-25 02:03:24 UTC ]
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