DEI and Fiction
Okay, before we start this…I’m going to say what I feel, and I DON’T want to get in trouble. Is that okay, snowflake? This is America, right?
For a little longer! What’s on your mind, boo?
All across the country, we’ve seen the relentless purge of DEI initiatives. First it was the federal government, and now private industries are following the same pattern.
Yup.
How is this a bad thing? DEI favored some people over others, which is the definition of bigotry. Isn’t eradicating bigotry what we want to do?
DEI isn’t accurately being portrayed, and that’s something I can speak to. I don’t often discuss my day jobs but, prior to my current gig, I worked for the newly created DEI office of a college…
RACIST!
…and what’s being attacked isn’t what DEI represents. Part of that false portrayal is because DEI rose at the time of the killing of George Floyd and the BLM movement and, given those roots, it’s been largely associated with race. And people assume that racial equality is the entirety of the DEI initiative (which, wait, wouldn’t be a bad thing).
The truth is, DEI is intended to reinforce the rights and reduce discriminatory practices against every class. In my office, we worked on behalf of people with disabilities, or the elderly, or the neurodivergent, or veterans (a class of people in this country often disregarded after their military service). The equity in DEI meant ensuring the rights and opportunity of and for everyone, regardless of race.
Okay, fine…but that’s not how it was enacted. For four years, it was impossible for white men to publish any books.
I’ve written about this misconception before, so I won’t address it in full again. Suffice to say, that mindset is generally an aggrieved response to a couple of women or LGBTQ+ writers or writers of color winning awards or finding success, and the “haves” shrieking because the “have nots” are getting what they feel is theirs by history. This argument, that publishing is turning against white authors (particularly men) has been refuted again and again and again.
But you have to admit, we’re losing some classics. Schools aren’t teaching Mark Twain just because he kept saying the word…
Whoa, let me stop you there. You’re right, Mark Twain might not make it into classrooms someday. That would be a shame, because Mark Twain wrote one of my favorite essays, one I’ve frequently used when teaching workshops. Classes might also lose Fitzgerald or Hemingway and Faulkner. Perhaps Dickens. Those are writers I’ve returned to time and time again, both as a reader and a writer.
THEN WHY AREN’T YOU CHAGRINED?
That’s life, man. There is no sacred text. Only a few writers survive over years, and there’s no way to ensure who will be remembered (I already miss Nelson Algren). Tastes change, and so does the need for certain books or the philosophies they espouse. America is growing more diverse and, as a result, more diverse books are sought.
BECAUSE WOKE!
Because that’s what tastes do. But this is why we’re seeing book bans and the angry rebellion against DEI. Growing diversity has lifted both awareness and voices, and crushing DEI is part of a silencing effort.
I disagree. Eliminating DEI is going to give us a chance to save the classics from people who want to destroy them, just because they were written by white men.
I never want the authors I listed above erased from history. Those white dudes changed my life for the better. But so did Baldwin and Hurston and Wright and Momaday and Erdich. DEI isn’t why we’re teaching them. We’re teaching them because they’re great. We’re teaching them because, as readers, we needed them. And we still do. Generations from now, people may need a different writer (I hope it’s me!).
But the spirit of DEI, which is diversity and representation and equity, may have helped bring those writers to us, against forces staunchly opposed to that effort.
Trying to erase these efforts is an attempt to erase an aspect of the American identity, and it won’t work. These movements never have, although they’ve wrought damage and left ruin in their wake. It’s easy, after all, to destroy, but that act is misleading. Because once the damage is done and the people who caused it have left or died, the writers remain.
And it’s then that you’ll realize we never stopped telling our story. Or yours.
EA
Thanks to everyone who came out for my presentation at DC Reads! I’m sorry I badgered you all so much, but this meant a lot to me, and I worked really hard on that presentation, and Sara Jones was there, and I wore jeans instead of sweat pants. So thank you.
I have a couple of other events coming up. On March 20, I’ll be in conversation with the other DC Reads writers, Lauren Francis-Sharma and Alice McDermott, in a panel hosted by the wonderful Hannah Oliver Depp!
And then, a day later, I’ll be in West Virginia at the Manuscript to Marketplace Conference, teaching a class about how you can become rich and successful and lose twenty pounds on your way to being a bestseller writer!
Hope to see you at one of these events.
As regular readers of this newsletter know, I like restless writers. I like people who experiment with different forms and are constantly trying different things, not always for the sake of the marketplace, but for their own creative interests. Nick Kolakowski, who has written series of novellas and novels and short stories and anthologies - all refusing to stay inside the lines - is my jam.
Not only that, but Nick has always been an outspoken writer, happy to call out hypocrisy or bigotry in publishing. He’s been a stalwart figure in crime fiction since his emergence on the scene, and has nabbed Anthony and Derringer nods along the way.
His next novel, Where the Bones Lie, comes out from Datura in just a few days, and I’m glad he agreed to play Kiss, Marry or Kill with his characters:
Who in Where the Bones Lie am I kissing? That’s a big question—and a scary one, because pretty much every character in this Hollywood detective thriller is a little bit unsettling. Many have secret agendas. Pretty much all of them know how to fight. Start kissing one of them, and the next thing you know, you’re waking up in a bathtub filled with ice, your left kidney gone and a massive hangover building up in your skull. I mean, we all have Saturdays like that, right?
Anyway, I’m kissing Angie. She’s a retired fixer for the big Hollywood studios. Once upon a time, she made a ton of money by squishing scandals before they could explode into the open. She also once stole a rapper’s Humvee and used it to crush a fleeing paparazzi. Not a nice lady,
but you want to stay in her good graces—hence the kiss. Although if she didn’t go for it, I’d be in more trouble than I ever imagined, so…
Who would I marry? Probably Madeline Ironwood, one of the book’s two detective-y protagonists. She drives a really sweet car, an old-school Mustang that Steve McQueen would’ve drooled over, but that’s probably not the best reason to marry someone. No, Madeline is the toughest and probably the smartest character in the story, exactly the kind of sarcastic badass you’d want by your side when trying to solve a decades-old homicide, figure out the secrets of an isolated California town, and flee from a wildfire…
What’s that you say? Most marriages aren’t about solving murders or dodging death? Well, I’d marry her anyway—I like someone who can call me out on my crap, drive it like they stole it, and survive pretty much anything. Speaking of survival and lack thereof…If I had to choose someone to kill, I’d opt for Mister Skull, the mysterious figure lurking at the book’s edges until the big finale. Mister Skull’s intentions are unclear but nefarious, and his ability to slip through pretty much any security undetected makes him a threat. Plus, there’s that creepy skull mask he’s always wearing, like the slasher from a B movie. You’d want to kill him
before he killed you, but could you even get close enough? Are you fast enough? What does he want, damnit? Maybe it’s better to run away from someone like that.
Thanks, Nick! Check out Where the Bones Lie, and make sure you subscribe to Nick’s Substack.
It's giveaway time! The winner of a copy of Nick Kolakowski’s Where the Bones Lie is:
__12susan_vi@gmail.com
Congrats, and I'll send you an email with more information soon!
Anthony Award nominations are out and, if you’re eligible to vote, my novel When She Left can be nominated for Best Paperback, if you’re into that kind of thing. Conversely, if you enjoyed this newsletter, you can send me a tip. Or just tell me I’m handsome.
I really just want your praise and attention.