Who said books shouldn't be political?
And why they absolutely should!
When Trump announced his proposed tariff sanctions for Canada, Mexico and China, the writing community went into a tail-spin. In the English-speaking world certainly, many Canadian and dual-nationality authors, with agents and publishers in the US, would be affected by these sanctions, and a number of self-published authors who rely on US sales were left with an uncertain future.
In publishing, the demarcation of borders is more fluid and we might think that politics wouldn’t affect our reading, but with the State of Oklahoma considering a bill to ban spicy books, there are clear signs of something darker threatening the writing community and subsequently readers.
So should books be political?
Before I answer that, it’s certainly been a question doing the rounds on Booktok, with many readers asking others not to get political, and just to leave them in peace to read. I kid you not.
This post is not for those people. If they can’t appreciate that all those best-selling romantasies they love are in jeopardy, then there’s really no helping them. Let’s leave them in peace with their ignorance.
All books are political
It’s beyond me that people even consider that books aren’t political. As a writer, I certainly think about politics all the time and think about how politics affects my characters, even in a fantasy setting.
A lot of the authors I like to read seem to share the same political thoughts and feelings that I do, many of them also share their views publicly online.
For some authors, this isn’t easy to do publicly, particularly if their day-jobs involve maintaining a neutral public image. Some have pen-names for this reason, but I think every writer would agree that politics are within the foundations of all our works.
Politics involves nuance and it’s complicated. Rather than write a polarising, binary political view in a 250 character tweet, books offer the opportunity to really open out different points of view, make readers ask questions and ponder the complexities of our society.
I particularly enjoy complex politics in the SFF that I read. Even low stakes books have societies founded on political values and systems, so there’s really no escaping it even in fantasy.
The political views of award-winning and best-selling authors such as R F Kuang and African Futurist Nnedi Okorafor underpin their works fundamentally.
‘Read as widely as possible’
This advice is often given to writers. When we read books, we open our minds to new ideas and points of view. Books contribute to a tolerant society, and that’s why banning them (or burning them), is an act of fascism.
By reading as widely as possible, we not only expand our own ideas but help support diversity. Who knows we might even encounter a point of view we hadn’t considered before and feel enlightened.
Diversifying the TBR Pile
After a discussion with
about how to better support these authors whose livelihoods are affected, I asked people to send me their recommendations for books by Canadian, Mexican and Chinese authors. The response on all platforms was well received.
A lot of traditionally published and self-published Canadian authors were recommended to me. Some of these authors had extra hit points as they had Mexican or Chinese heritage. A number of these authors are already on my TBR pile and I now have a few more to add to it.
I began creating boards for Mexican and Chinese authors as well, however this was trickier, particularly for books published in the English language. I need to do more research to complete my boards before I share them, but I’ve got some excellent suggestions as a starting point. Feel free to comment below if you have any recommendations.
Here’s a full list of the authors I’ve shared here and their books if you want to find them:
Silvia Moreno-Garcia - best-selling author of Mexican Gothic & The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.
Cal Black - No Land for Heroes was recommended to me by Jam Reads.
Xiran Jay Zhao - best-selling author of Iron Widow & Heavenly Tyrant.
Fonda Lee - best-selling author of The Green Bone Saga.
Margaret Atwood - award-winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale (such an appropriate novel to read in these interesting times).
Liselle Sambury - Trinidadian/Canadian author of YA titles such as Blood Like Magic.
Rachel McMillan - author of fiction and non-fiction titles, supporter of the writing community and literary agent to many international authors.
Joanne Paulson - crime and thriller indie author recommended to me by
Emily St John Mandel - prize-winning speculative author of Sea of Tranquility & Station Eleven.
T L Coughlin - one to watch, Page Turner finalist of Of Us and Them. This is the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus.
Ai Jiang - Nebula award-winning author of I Am Ai and upcoming release A Palace Near the Wind.
C L Polk - Nebula nominated author of The Midnight Bargain.
J Patricia Anderson - high fantasy and horror author of Daughters of Tith and Your Blood & Bones - recommended to me by
.Gordon G Bowman - indie sci-fi and fantasy author of Fractured.
Trinity Cunningham - indie fantasy author of
Tim McGregor - gothic horror author of Eynhallow recommended by author Catherine McCarthy.
T J McKay - indie author of epic fantasy The Fall of Selvandrea recommended by Trinity Cunningham.
M E Kalous - fantasy author of Dawning of the Sun.
L A Brown - YA fantasy author of Autumn Death.
Steve Hugh Westenra - SFFH author of The Wings of Ashtaroth.
Krystle Matar - indie author of Legacy of the Brightwash recommended to me by author L N Bayen.
Nathaniel Luscombe - cosy fantasy author of Moon Soul, who recommended Ai Jiang and also Myka Silber who wrote Rider’s Blood, Moonlit Black:
So many other authors were recommended to me and honestly I fell down a rabbit hole of books I want to add to my TBR.
Ahhh, if I could just read all day…
The eagle-eyed among you might notice I included Anne of Green Gables, which remains one of my most beloved and reread books and book series, by L M Montgomery. I couldn’t resist including that.
Excellent post Mel! Love the list of recs, too. Will be definitely looking into these for my TBR list.
Thanks for the tags
I had to try and do something myself because my friends are affected by this.