Neesha Meminger on predictability and more...

...at the YA YA YAs:

Fantasy and play and romance. Play. It’s the space where creativity happens. It’s a place of joy, hope, rejuvenation, innocence, and a throwback to childhood when things are (or should be) carefree. In the vast majority of books featuring people of colour and other marginalized voices, the offerings are of overcoming suffering, the pain of being “other”, and the untimely loss of innocence. Not that there isn’t a place for these novels. They are vital and necessary, and offer a most important mirror for those in similar situations–and I reserve the right to have my next book explore suffering and pain and violence, and maybe even identity. All I am saying is that to only put forward stories of marginalized people suffering nobly or weathering hardship, to the exclusion of other types of stories, is where we once again risk falling into the trap of what Chimamanda Adichie terms the “single story” trope.

Pop on through and read the whole thing -- and I'm going to ILL Jazz in Love today.