In response to the lack of diversity (again) in the New York Time's summer reading list, we decided to ask a few writer friends what two books they would suggest reading this summer. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list in any way but it just goes to show - when you ask a handful of diverse artists what books they would recommend you get a diverse list. From children's books to memoirs, to poetry to novels, here is what they said:
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| Photo by Steven Fullwood |
Sharon Bridgforth is a resident playwright at New Dramatists
since 2009. RedBone Press author of love conjure/blues and the Lambda
Literary Award-winning the bull-jean stories, her piece delta dandi, is
published in solo/black/woman, Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon
Rivera-Servera, Northwestern University Press. Bridgforth, Omi Osun Joni L.
Jones and Lisa L. Moore are co-editors of Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art,
Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project, University of Texas Press. She
is one of the subjects of Dr. Omi Jones’ Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ,
and the Power of the Present Moment, Ohio State University Press. Sharon recommended:
Emma Pérez has published fiction, essays and the history
book, The Decolonial Imaginary. Pérez’s first novel, Gulf Dreams, was
published in 1996 and reprinted with Aunt Lute Books in 2009. Her second
novel, Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory, (University of Texas Press,
2009) was awarded the Christopher Isherwood Writing Grant (2009), won 2nd place
in Historical Fiction from International Latino Books (2010), was a finalist in
General Fiction from the Lambda Literary Foundation Awards (2010) and was a
finalist in Historical Fiction from the Golden Crown Literary Awards (2010).
Her latest novel, Electra’s Complex, is an erotic mystery published with
Bella Books (2015). Currently, she is a professor in the Department of
Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Emma recommended:
Joe Jiménez is the author of The Possibilities of Mud (Kórima
2014) and Brightest Noise (Arte Público 2016). Jiménez was the recipient
of the 2012 Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Prize and holds an MFA in Creative
Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. The short film “El Abuelo,”
directed by Dino Dinco, based on Jimenez’s poem, has been screened in Belgium,
the Netherlands, Mexico, Argentina, Ireland, and the US. He lives in San
Antonio and is a member of the Macondo Workshops. His recent poems can be
found in Fourth River, Southern Humanities Review, Codex, and Borderlands Texas
Poetry Review. Joe recommended:
Carol Brochin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona. She
teaches courses on queer young adult and bilingual children’s literature as
well as literacy methods for bilingual teachers. Previously she worked as
a language arts teacher in her hometown Laredo, Texas. She has published
research articles and book chapters on young adult literature, bilingual
teacher preparation, and transnational literacies. She is currently writing a
young adult novel about a queer Chicana set on the US/Mexico border. Carol suggested:
Azure Osborne-Lee is an award-winning artist and eccentric from south of
the Mason-Dixon Line. Driven by Aquarius rising, Azure has lived in Brooklyn,
Manhattan, Austin, Houston, London, and Chiapas in the past five years. A theatre
maker with an eye for detail, Azure is currently focusing on writing for the
stage. He pays the bills by working as an arts administrator and freelance
transcriptionist. Azure suggested:
How many of these 10 books have you already read?
What are you reading this summer?
